Originally Posted by
AirWillie
But that doesn't make any sense. Wouldn't 2005 TSA pilots have accepted the current pay and contract then? Why would an airline that was created to get around "paying" already low wages to pilots, form a union and an industry average contract? Wouldn't they continue to be non union with 50 seat wages since they already have thse "soft" and "understanding" pilots? You and I will never know what exactly went on at the negs and the time line required to finalize Gojet. And one thing's for sure the MEC did not see the seriousness of Gojet and the importance of securing CRJ700 flying. Granted no one can see the future and in 2005 50 seaters were still popular. They should have made like RAH which secured their E170 flying by agreeing to 37 dollar top out rates for 99 seaters. Look at where they are now.
You don't have an industry average contract no matter how many times you tell yourself. Even if it was average, that is nothing to be proud of. Would you be proud to be a C student in school?
GoJet not only allowed Hulas to pay less but it also allowed him to reset longevity as well. Finally instead of having one pilot group to deal with Hulas can now whipsaw TSA against Go Jet pilots. How is either group going to negotiate for better contracts when there is the whipsaw factor hanging overhead. Hulas also now knows that he can start another alter ego if he doesn't get what he wants from either TSA or Go Jet pilots. He got away with it once, he can/will try it again.
Now imagine what would have happened if you and others hadn't gone to Go Jet for the quick upgrade and instead stood behind the TSA pilots. Go Jet would still exist but there would be one seniority list and thus no chance for whipsaw. Everyone at TSH would have an easier time getting a better contract. Yeah it wouldn't fix the regionals but it would be a step in the right direction and that is all we can do, take small steps towards making things better.
Funny how you try and deflect attention to RAH. No one at RAH was hired knowing that they would be replacing Midwest pilots or flying 100 seat aircraft. Everyone hired at Go Jet knows that they are playing a roll in replacing another work group. If RAH was hiring right now or during the Midwest acquisition then those pilots would be guilty of replacing Midwest jobs.
OperatorError: Kind of hard to work together when we have Alter-ego airlines like Go Jet that undercut us. Some of us are actually trying to help the industry. If you don't want to read this than don't, problem solved.
Zapata: You bet there will be other things we'll be looking for to improve on our next contract and we'll compare ours to others and if there our better provisions in someone else's contract will work for that or something better.
ALPA is only as strong as it's local MEC. We finally had enough B.S. with our company and did the safety campaign, look how quickly that got us our new T.A.
If we don't compare contracts and discuss the good ones and the bad ones how is anyone supposed to get something better if we don't know what else is out there?