Originally Posted by
⌐ AV8OR WANNABE
Have you found your plane yet?
For the sake of the argument – please tell me how this list would work?
For example at what point would one become a member? First commuter job? What if he/she flies crop dusters or tows banners; would they be eligible to join? What about the military pilots? Would they get credit for their military years? Would part 135 and 91 pilots be able to join?
If an employer has a choice to hire someone with let's say combined 15 years of National List seniority from his/her previous jobs why wouldn't he/she hire someone straight out of flight school instead? It's all about economics, isn't it?
I do see some of your points but overall a National Seniority List has an odor of communism lingering over it and I feel that it's a very bad idea... So go ahead and convince me how it'd work in today's environment...
AV8OR:
I understand how you night catch a wiff of socialism/communism with the NSL idea, but I respectfully disagree. The difference, in my opinion is in that the people (pilots) would be initiating and running things, not the government requiring membership and pretending it's because the people want it. Think of it as the way ALPA
should work.
We bind our own hands in this industry by whipsawing and berating each other. For example, you can read an entire thread about how GJ/Mesa/Colgan pilots are scum and then those pilots will turn around and say that Comair/Pinnacle/Republic pilots are scum. This is solidarity? We're all supposed to be on the same team here. We're too busy fighting each other to make any real progress.
Again, example: If we had an NSL GJ would either not exist, the pilots would be perfectly acceptable as they would be on the seniority list, or they would be scabs. (This is not a GJ discussion, just the best example I could think of). Maybe it shouldn't be called an NSL. Maybe the name throws people off - they think of it as this big communist machine. It would simply be pilots uniting in one seniority list. Maybe the United Seniority List? That sounds a little more patriotic. As for when people would join the list, when do they join now? Cropdusters, CFI's, and banner towers don't belong to ALPA, and they wouldn't be on an NSL. You could basically apply the principle that if it would qualify you for an ALPA membership, it would qualify you for a spot on the NSL.
As for why HR would hire a 15 year pilot compared to a newbie, maybe there could be a clause in the National Contract that requires priority for current and qualified NSL members. That may be a good option. Remember, there would be
ONE contract. Not one for every pilot group, because there would be
ONE pilot group. I also read on here the idea that we would basically be contract pilots, similar to an electrician working out of the union hall.
I'm not claiming to have all the answers, this just seems like a good solution to our collective problem. Imagine, maybe with an NSL we'd actually get enough people interested in union business to make a difference. Some of the numbers of pilots on the seniority list compared to those who turn out for a vote are disgusting. Anyway I'm done preaching...
No, I haven't found my plane yet. I hear Comair has it parked in CVG... Saving gas that way at least.
