Originally Posted by
⌐ AV8OR WANNABE
JJ – I’ve read your posts and you seem to be interested in both sides of the story which is great… However, it appears as if you’re trying to find a reason to give them your acceptance but if you look at the basics it’s simply about what’s right and what’s wrong.
Let’s say you are a pilot for airline A and after a year or so with the company A you’re being told that you’re now being furloughed…
Yet, at the very same time your company creates a side business and calls it airline B to circumnavigate dealings with your pilots’ union and starts hiring other pilots for that operation.
So your employer is simultaneously hiring and furloughing simply to realign pilots into a management friendly unit…
When they told you that you’re being furloughed they also offered you a position at this new alter-ego airline. At the time, the ‘other’ company has no union and is in fact “crewed” by many pilots who’ve crossed picket lines in the past.
So your choice is being furloughed or to ‘move over’ to this new union-busting operation.
This is what I think is wrong – an airline started for one simple reason – to bust the union.
Many things have happened since then; the ‘other’ company or Gojet now has a union and some think they’ve become a legit company. In my view however, since they started out as a union busting operation they can never be a ‘normal airline.’
The pilots there are making a little more than TSA pilots as you pointed out BUT they also fly bigger airplanes. The original disagreement TSA pilots had with their management was over how much money the larger equipment should bring. TSA felt the pilots should get the same pay whether 50 or 70 seat airplanes; the union felt larger airplanes should bring in more…
They ended up paying Gojet pilots a little more than what the 50 seater pilots would've made at TSA however not as much as the union wanted.
Note, before you, or someone else, attacks me for being a leftist fanatic; I’m a proud republican who did not vote for the One – I dislike Gojet because of it’s disgraceful past, that’s all…
I will always be cordial and professional to all Gojet employees however they have not earned my respect (…as I stated before, I actually have a friend there and yes he is still my friend although I will always disagree with his decision).
I believe your facts are a bit skewed. GoJet was created due to the scope clause that the Allied Pilots Association has with American Airlines. In order to capture the 70 seat flying being offered by United, a different certificate had to be formed so as not to violate the Scope clause of the APA. RAH had to do this for the very same reason...and prior to the completion of that new certificate, they (RAH) paid heavy fines to the APA.
Now, I'll go along with your statement that ALPA couldn't agree on 70 seat pay rates with TSA. GJ offered the initial cadre of pilots 5 year pay to start.
As to "union-busting," I feel that ALPA National should have been more assertive. They obviously decided to turn their backs on the TSA pilots or knew that all they could do was put on a front to show that they were opposed to such a measure. Seeing as though there was no successful legal remedy, I'd say the issue is dead.
Face it, on the regional level there is little--if any--defensible scope.
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