Originally Posted by
RockyMountain
I guess I could put this on any regional's list but Skywest's is probably the best place.
I'm betting that the Skywest pilots are not going to push for the ability to add and drop trips without the ability of a $15 per hour 19 year old person in the scheduling department being able to say no. Regional pilots do not understand the value of the freedom they would gain by being able to drop low time pairings and pick up higher time pairings. Or of being able to drop trips and put other trips back to back. Or of being able to drop trips to go to your friend's funeral.
Hopefully others will be able to post better examples than I have here but I wanted to start the list.
There are some people that need to be removed from our CS management before any real QOL changes come down the pike. Additionally, SAPA is most likely not going to secure anything impressive when --or maybe even IF-- a new contract comes up for a vote. Changes to QOL are minuscule, we may see a large percentage increase in pay scale, but even on the high side (I've heard 30%), our Captains will still make less than 3rd year FOs at a ULCC. There has been more than enough time to come up with a contract for a problem they knew about since at least December (and that's being generous), and yet we haven't seen anything more than a survey. It seems to me that the leadership here sees a turndown in the economy that will sort of just work things out.
Let's not neglect the fact that other carriers are doing the same thing... plenty of places need a refresh to remove **** poor policies (Alaska especially comes to mind), but there's no rush to get anything done. I think they know something many of us don't.