Tjeff

Hahaha you’re so delusional because I can swear to you every single person I have talked to has said hold out for way more we have all the leverage, I don’t know what you’re money problems are but maybe budget better bud

send a check

I’m in the take the money camp. What we “deserve” or “should get” is meaning less to AAG. What matters is if we continue to show up for work and if there is new recruitment to replace us as we leave.

That’s all that matters to AAG. If classes continue to be empty and attrition is high then AAG will throw a band aid on top. And then another one if that was not enough. What I feel they won’t do is offer comprehensive improvements to make us an “industry leading” regional. Because at the end of the day it’s regional and a small one at that.

Bampilot

how do we have any leverage over AAG? Please somebody explain this to me. Preferably somebody that has been at Piedmont atleast 3 years.
All of your arguments are leverage over Piedmont not AAG.

chrisreedrules

What leverage exactly? I’m not trying to be a jerk here, but you keep saying you have leverage and I just don’t see it. None of the AAG WOs have any real leverage.

Heavy Hive

AA depends on the wholly owned to supply pilots, in a huge way. Additionally, they fly a lot of AA routes and feed into hubs. If those same carriers are bleeding pilots and not attracting recruits, it affects AA in a large way. That is your leverage. It is pretty simple. And if the raise isn't enough to attract new recruits, the problem persists. More so because Piedmont already cannot figure out how to hire and get pilots on the line in a timely manner. If the pay isn't enough to solve the problem, and it isn't, Piedmont will really have huge problems catching up. Republic has figured it out, very nicely.
Piedmont needs higher pay and better working conditions. Not just pay. Carriers like Spirit learned the same lesson, and Spirit is a pretty decent place now.

chrisreedrules

I do agree that the WOs provide a lot of lift for AAG. But Piedmont specifically does not. That is not to say that Piedmont’s contribution is unimportant, quite the contrary. But they are a smaller company.

And AA only relies on the WOs to supply pilots to the extent that it also helps them keep their costs predictable and relatively low at their regional wholly owneds. Make no mistake, classes at AA (and at any Legacy airline) will be full regardless of flow through and interview programs. They are designed to staff the regional, not the mainline.

Yes all of those things you mentioned are imperative for Piedmont. But the way you and I see things aren’t the way that airline management sees them. At the end of the day I’m not at Piedmont and what you and PDT ALPA decide to do is up to you. I just see a lot of vitriol here (it is APC) so I couldn’t help but interject some perspective into the discussion. I’ve been watching the way AAG does business at my regional and others for coming up on 5 years now. A drop in the bucket compared to many but still enough to glean some insights...

Thedude86

The difference is the higher pay at Republic doesn’t come from American. Republic has to eat those costs of raising pay. And Spirit has no one to farm their airbus flying out to. When you operate an airplane that can’t be farmed out you’ll finally have some leverage.

Piedmont is one of the smallest operators of about 9 regional carriers that fly for American. I would argue that even a larger carrier like Envoy or PSA doesn’t have any leverage. When you have 9 “contractors” to choose from, what do you think happens when one of them gets too expensive or tries to twist the master’s arm? I will bet my first born son that American will most certainly make an example out of Piedmont for Envoy and everyone else if they don’t get their way. It is the sole reason why regionals exist in the first place.... to keep costs low. And if that happens it won’t be the first time or the last time an airline has shown their wrath.

Even including piedmont the overall regional pilot staffing for all the American regional carriers is better now than it was in 2013. Literally HALF of PSA’s pilots are on reserve and there are other carriers not far behind.

The day any regional has any kind of leverage is the day that our flying finally starts transitioning to mainline. Today is not that day. Otherwise, what’s the point in having 9 different contractors?

American has at a minimum 3 other backup plans before they give you more than what’s already been offered. What kind of leverage will you have after they announce you’re being downsized or merged with someone else? Or they fill new hire classes anyway by just upping the bonuses by another 10k-20k?

You guys are thinking short term. American is thinking long term, what’s cheapest overall, and is about 4 steps ahead of you.

Thedude86

I’m in the same boat. Most of the people I see posting about having leverage have mostly all been here about 1-3 years. Not that that’s much of a difference from 5 years, but my guess is it’s just not quite long enough to feel the full abuse from American and to see exactly what they’re capable of just to keep from spending an extra cent.

We are part of American. Not Delta. Delta runs a world class airline with smooth operations. AAG is trying to run its airline like it’s Spirit, Allegiant, or any other LCC.

flysooner9

Then why doesn’t the union just send it to a pilot vote? Like I said if it’s voted down with a big no that would be bargaining power for the negotiators.

OpMidClimax

The majority of ownership of republic is now between AAG, delta and united, along with other relatively minor stake holders. Please research your posts before you continue to post.

The three legacy carriers have lost quite a large sum in the bankruptcy recovery of RAH to make it solvent again. Also flying for one carrier over the other has to be approved by the other stakeholders. There are a few interesting reads about the current dynamic of the board at rah and Bedfords role now.