Originally Posted by
Blueridger
Wow, I just saw the pay rates that were posted and figured I would put some of those numbers in perspective.
Back in the day, when I was hired as a regional FO, 3rd year pay was $36 an hour for a 50 seat RJ. Considering that was back in early 2001, if you adjust for inflation (and by the way, inflation is inevitably going to rise faster here pretty soon with the printing press running all day), that equates to $44 an hour in 2009 dollars.
18 year Capt pay was $100 an hour in 2001, which would mean $122 an hour in 2009 dollars. There were also a ton of "soft pay" clauses included.
The contract back then was not considered spectacular by any stretch of the imagination and the average longevity at the company was well under 5 years.
How the hell can ALPA and all the regional pilots let such a joke of a contract go through at a time when they are facing the prospect of many years, if not their entire career spent with their current outfit? I always imagined that new contracts were supposed to set the bar, not lower it! Considering how profitable and powerful these regionals have become, how can there be any excuse to ratify such garbage?
I wish you all luck and simply wanted to point out the massive downward slide that has afflicted the small carriers, and to think it was done at the expense of the majors only makes it more outrageous. Talk about shooting yourself in both feet! Terrifying stuff.......
ALPA can (and will) do it because it's in their financial best interest.
Strikes are expensive for national and if they fail, then there's a real possibility that that ALPA dues paying carrier will either be replaced with a non-ALPA carrier or just slowly dissolve. Either way, ALPA loses dues income which seems to be its primary concern today. It appears ALPA has become a business that needs to be able to continue to pay nice salaries and bennies to its staff and there must be assurances the collapse of pilots livelyhoods do not affect the bottom line income of ALPA, lest the pain pilots are undergoing transfer to Herndon.
Remember, any new contract must apparently first and foremost be good for both that company and the association. Pilots really don't matter.