Ellen

I love this!


"The reports also state screeners are not getting all of the TSA-mandated training and often have criminal backgrounds, and that starting salaries of $24,000 fail to retain employees."

Oh, $24,000 doesn't retain a a TSA screener and the airlines EXPECT PILOTS TO BE RETAINED FOR UNDER $20,000. How is that? Sorry folks, many are pathetic for working for less than a TSA screener.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...228247,00.html

JoeyMeatballs

I agree, being a 2nd time 1st Year F/O, I and everyone around me is getting sick of tired of me being broke, Its a disgrace, and im sure Ill be a "First Year F/O", many more times.............and if I am lucky enough to one day get on with CAL, ill be more broke then ever.....................oh yeah and it will be worse becuase the older miserable pilots who blew all of their money on boats, and cars and their 3rd X-wives need to work until they are 65...............what a joke

YAKflyer

Must be ALPA's fault since all the big hearted managers would really rather pay more..........

stickwiggler

Yak,
Forgive my ignorance, sometimes sarcasim is difficult to determine on line, but I'm curious. Are pro or anti union at the regional level? I know that might seem like a dumb question, given your history, but I'm not sure so I thought I'd ask.

Stick

fatmike69

Depends on who you ask. There are alot of people that think unions have done very little good, if not made matters worse at their regional airlines. There are also people that are very pro-union, and believe they are necessary for maintaining some sort of leverage with management. Working at SKYW (non-union with an ALPA drive in the works right now), it seems to be somewhat of a 50-50 split (give or take a bit on either side) with regards to voting in a union. Personally, I think that a union is necessary. They provide valuable resources that you normally would not have in the absence of a union. For example: You deviate altitude due to a TCAS II RA in cruise flight, and the FAA still wants to come after you for the deviation A union would provide representation for you to the FAA, whereas at a non-union carrier, you could potentially be left to sort the mess out on your own

fosters

Well let's see, how were the people doing the screening pre-9/11 surviving on $7.00/hr. As far as I know it wasn't the screeners that missed the boat on 9/11, weren't box cutters allowed on board aircraft? So...in typical government fashion, they tried to fix something that wasn't broke and made it worse off. Great job.

JoeyMeatballs

My man FOSTERS, couldn't of said it better myself........smoke & mirrors my friends, smoke & mirrors

YAKflyer

My reply was pure sarcasm..........I think it is reprehensible that the regionals have the pay scales they do. Frankly, managers have planned their capacity around a cost structure that places a discounted value the skill set and then tell the employees they can't afford to pay a reasonable wage. It's nuts. I wonder if we wouldn't be better off in the long run with reduced capacity fewer pilots and higher wages. As a society I find it hard to reconcile when we pay a NY meter maid and most municipal bus drivers more than a junior EMB-120 captain at SKW. The pay scales are not the work of unions and in particular ALPA, they are the result of greedy managements.

I do not think things will get better without the efforts of everybody (all regional pilots) pulling together and that can not happen without an organized effort. When SKW, which is supposed to be one of the "good companies" is going to essentially pay EMB-120 pilots the same pay with no increase for ten years, I have serious doubts the lopsided pay rates can be rectified industry wide without a major fight.

I have a problem with unions that are effectively in the business of trying represent anybody and everybody. I don't think when they do that they represent anybody very well. That is why I like ALPA, all ALPA wants to do is represent airline pilots. ALPA is a bottom up organization, not a top down union that dictates to its membership. The representation ALPA pilots get from their MEC's is as good or bad as those who the pilots vote to represent them. Additionally, ALPA provides the best infrastructure there is to support the various MECs. If you are a regional pilot I think ALPA is an especially good deal because ALPA actually subsidizes the MEC operation since the dues collected from the regional pilots is not enough to fund those operations. The pilots of the majors retain about 20% of their dues dollars while the other 80% goes to paying for the national operation and the regional subsidizes.

Bottom line ALPA isn't without it's blemishes but it is the best choice out there. The effectiveness of ALPA at any property is only as good as those who are willing to serve and the unity the membership is willing to give. One other point, in the early 90's Robert Crandall told the APA he didn't care what he paid AA pilots as long as he had a level playing field. Improvements are going to have to be done industry wide or not at all, the Comair guys learned that lesson all too well. If there is to be improvement to a reasonable level it will take every pilot group pulling together to make it happen.

Ellen

All this talk about low pay and lower minimums for Pilots. Maybe we should enact a law that requires TSA screeners to have certain TIME and Training minimums.

1) 1500 TT working with the public
2) 300 hours multi-lingual study time in a second language of their choice.
3) 100 hours of hand-held instrument time so they know how to operate a metal detecting wand
4) 250 hours dual instruction from a Certified TSA trainer that has more than 5000 hrs. TT as a CTSAT (Certified TSA Trainer)
5) Minimum age of 23 and maximum age of 60
6) Medical required every 6 months to determine if they are physically fit to stand on their feet all day AND are not passing around communicable diseases (of course that is paid out of their pocket)
7) Annual EKG's to determine if they can handle the stress of trying to enforce policies that are ever changing.
8) Four (4) College degree
9) Must be of good moral character

And if they can't these type of people they can lower their minimums so anybody can apply. OH! The GOVT. already did that.

cruiseclimb

yeah.. instead the mins are something like..

Must be semi retarded or overweight... if you can't meet the weight requirements, please at least be over the age of 55 with a junior high school education. Previous experience picking and eating boogers on the job is a bonus.