Originally Posted by globalexpress

Thanks for the comments about my retort on the site It is SO important that pilots counter the ridiculous comments made by these regional airline CEOs and the RAA.

A few comments about what has been stated on this thread.

First of all, I think it's crazy that anyone should suggest that regional airline Captain should accept lower pay in order to help bring up the pay scales for First Officers. A regional airline Captain is responsible for a multi-million dollar piece of company capital and hundreds of millions of dollars (potentially) of liability if things go pear shaped. SO WHAT if he/she is making six figures? THAT IS WHAT THEY SHOULD BE PAID. One might argue it should be higher. A regional airline Captain shouldn't be asked to take a pay cut just because regional airline First Officers are paid crap wages. The solution is that regional airline management needs to raise First Officer Wages. Period. End of discussion. Not ask a guy/gal who has committed a decade or more of his/her life to subsidize THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS.

What these CEOs have done is bid contracts based upon paying and treating their pilots poorly. Now they're in a bind. Pilots are starting to stand up for themselves, but they want to keep that pilot labor "pie" piece of the income statement pretty much the same in order to keep profits up. That's why there's so much emphasis on pilot cost shifting- paying Captains less and using that money to pay First Officers more. If they could do that, their problems disappear in the short term, which is all they care about- the short term. They want someone else (Captains) to pay for their problem, instead of doing the right thing- paying a living wage to entry level pilots. Don't buy into that ridiculousness that someone else should pay for these CEOs to simply do the right thing and recognize market forces.

The "he-he" was really laughing at Ornstein. So out of touch it's laughable. And the problem is that little RAA coven is nothing but an echo chamber. They'll all complain how horrible the 1,500/1,250/1,000/750 hour rule is, how terrible those greedy unions are, how naughty pilots are for voting down raises, etc., etc., without even addressing the real issue.

I agree the 1,500/1,250/1,000/750 hour rule will change someday, and I think that's why regional airline CEOs are so vocal right now. They want the world to know that THEY are the victims. Greedy union pilots are shooting down pay raises. Greedy Captains are taking all the money for themselves so they can't pay their First Officers a living wage. Communities are losing air service because of the 1,500 hour rule. Woe is me, I have to shrink my company because my pilots just rejected a huge pay increase. Why can't we have 250 hr. pilots like they do in other countries, etc., etc.

They want to put pressure on the FAA and the government to change this rule, so they do all of the above, and more, to swing government and public opinion. It's up to us to get the real truth out there.

Originally Posted by block30

Yep, exactly.

Someone else said stop the whining to each on APC. OK, I get that. But I would say some of us are taking the fight to the next step; contacting our Congressmen, ALPA reps, etc. We may also take action to counter this upper management BS onslaught; we can write about the realities of the industry through our own websites, www.thetruthaboutheprofession.weebly.com, or in writing comments to these internet articles. APC *can* be a good place of communication and coordination.

Just think about this;
Regionals pilots are what management admits they cannot find. However, it was regional pilots who were given contracts with concessionary language/paltry pay raises, or worse, they were *ordered* to take concessions or else be Comair-ed. That is insane, and management is actively, vocally, and at least somewhat successfully spinning this in their favor!!

Congressman Sam Graves seems to be eating this up by the way...Congressman Sam Graves : Contact Sam You have to be in his district to email him, but you can snail mail him, and I've heard snail mail has more impact so to speak than email...

Hint, hint.

Originally Posted by block30

Someone else said stop the whining to each on APC. OK, I get that. But I would say some of us are taking the fight to the next step; contacting our Congressmen, ALPA reps, etc. We may also take action to counter this upper management BS onslaught; we can write about the realities of the industry through our own websites, www.thetruthaboutheprofession.weebly.com, or in writing comments to these internet articles. APC *can* be a good place of communication and coordination.

Originally Posted by nwa757

Where is Mesa ALPA's press response to JO's cheap ass garbage mouth?

Originally Posted by NineGturn

After reading that article it's clear that Congress probably had JO in mind specifically when they passed these new regulations. :-)

While there are a few airlines in Europe that have pay to fly programs, there is some backlash resulting and I'm sure it will eventually go away.