I am not complaining. I gladly took the job at SkyWest knowing full well why my first year pay would be what it was. In an industry where the economic reality is razor thin profit margins, I only ask that everybody carry their own weight. The sum total of the organization can only be profitable if the individual parts each contribute in a positive way.

In my opinion, it is a little out of balance to ask me or any other pilot, flight attendant, ramper, gate agent, etc. or any other SkyWest employee to "finance" (lower salary, lower quarterly bonus, lower stock price, etc.) the flight training for someone else. Anyway, this is all a moot point. As it was explained above, they do get paid 1st year pay from SkyWest and it is up to UAL ALPA to pay the rest.

I would assume that mainline pilots would not take the job at SkyWest if they did not want it or could not afford it.

In reality, I don't think most mainline pilots would take the job anyway. All the guys I know who left SkyWest to go to United and got promptly furloughed are all now employed in non-aviation related fields making much more money than they did flying airplanes for SkyWest and/or United and they are home every night. They are not coming back to SkyWest and will very likely not go back to United.