Originally Posted by
BagMan
Your not wrong. There is a great deal of people who take extraordinary pride in there individual company. Something we just don't have at F9. Where the paradigm shifts is when you drop the airline branding and Company CBA and wonder what it would be like if There was only one contract? Individual operators could pay more(Delta) , But for the most part If the contract, Benefits , work rules and pay were the same would you really care what color the tail was? Most people would go for the City they live in, and the type of flying they want to do.
I am glad you guys are asking questions about this. I heard about it on my Very first observation flight at a regional. It made no sense. For the record I do not have a true understanding of how this would work. It is just something I think about while I stare out the window on long flights. It appeals to me because I also spend a great deal of time wondering why ALPA seems so dysfunctional. All I can come up with is It's fragmented nature prevents the ALPA from acting as a whole. Also makes for a student counsel level of negotiating power.
Maintaining individual carrier identity and contracts are fine w/ me. But, we already pretty much have a consensus on aircraft type pay and there really are only 4 airlines (with most if not all of the rest headed toward consolidation). So, it really wouldn't be that hard nor bad timing to implement.
Step 1. Every CA at an ALPA carrier (and rumor has it AA is making the switch) is assigned a GLOBAL seniority #. ALPA 00001 pilot goes to whomever was hired first (tie goes to the older person) and so on. This seniority # is ONLY granted to existing CAs or after upgrade sim check.
Step 2. Upon next CBA negotiation, each ALPA carrier contract would require a clause/paragraph w/in the scope section that allows (not requires) for each carrier to hire/acquire pilots not currently w/ the company but currently on the ALPA seniority list and utilize them as CAs. That clause would need provisions that would ensure existing FOs continue to upgrade at a "predetermined" rate.
This would "normalize" our industry to other domestic non-aviation as well as forein aviation industries. It would incentivize FOs to upgrade at 1st opportunity. But most importantly, it would preserve/utilize the CA skillset to its fullest in the case of airline merger or failure.
The only downside is the implementation of it for the EXISTING FOs at ALPA carriers. That's a lot of pilots and while it wouldn't PREVENT them from upgrading, it could potentially delay it.