Quote:
Originally Posted by jethikoki
No NWA should not need to re-interview. It has been discussed that regionals have a need to be vetted and did not have a similar difficult interview process as mainline. My point was only that when a mainline gets bought out or merges it would make no difference what their hiring practice was.
Not asking anything except equality. In the current ALPA system only mainline jobs matter and I know all the reasons why. But the current system allows management to have a playground at the regional level that would not be allowed at the mainlines. This is wrong and regionals don't have the power base to stop it like you have at a mainline. My feeling is my job is equally important as a mainlines BUT NEVER AT A MAINLINE PILOTS EXPENSE, POSITION OR JOB!
Under this current system you have protection that I am not afforded but until a regional pilot can move up to a mainline job it is still as important to a regional pilot as it is to a mainline. If GOD forbid there is another 9/11 terrorists attack or for whatever there is a reason for a downturn in the industry DAL can dissolve Endeavor and may never have a job to return to. A mainline may get furloughed but can return to your job once it becomes available again. Your job can not be given away ours can even though we are owned by the same company and under the same UNION.
You're blurring more lines than you're clarifying here. DL could liquidate while EDV remains. Don't think it can't happen. Pan Am, Eastern, etc. If something were to happen that truly endangered the airline, they could easily sell off EDV or spin them off to make quick cash while dismembering the husk of the former mainline.
I agree that mainlines have more "power" but ironically they have more limited leverage than you think. Short of agreeing to massive concessions (IMO far more than it would actually even cost due to the value of flexibility to management) there is no way outside of holding the line during a strike to achieve what you are advocating for as a unilateral effort by a mainline or "the union".
The best leverage will come from us holding the lines and not allowing more viable airframes, the "pilot shortage" forcing costs significantly upward, and maybe strike(s) at the regional level. CMR settled for an industry leading contract at the time, but no scope. That was a recipe for disaster especially since it occurred during a growth phase for the lift but during a relative glut of pilots across the system.
A legally striking regional today would have WAY more leverage. And I would think they'd get some help from mainlines and the rest of the industry. I'd gladly pay a relatively large assessment to give them all the leverage they needed to raise the bar and squash the model. And I think striking or furloughed ALPA pilots should get preference anyway. UAL does a much better job at that than we do, but the guard is changing and hopefully we can as well.