ghilis101

is the vote over yet? you cant really change peoples opinions at this point, but im glad that there are enough people at skywest who realize how important unions are.

unions have been trashed and badmouthed for the last few years especially alpa but think about this analogy for a minute:

pick your favorite sport. unions and management are playing against each other and a contract has served as the rule book (and of course the RLA), and the NMB serve as the referees. Sometimes you get a few bad calls here and there but for the most part both sides play by the rules. Unfortunately since 9/11, everything has been called in favor of management against unions. but instead of everyone booing at the refs, theyre booing at the unions. so the problem is not unions, its getting the other side to play by the rules, and getting the refs to call the game fairly (i.e. give the employees a little power to push back). The only problem is theres really only one way to fire the refs and thats through our openly anti-labor government.

sorry for dumbing down this analogy but im really sick of unions getting blamed for "giving in" or screwing their own guys over, or being out to just make money for the unions. yes unions make money, but believe me unions make more money when the pilots that they represent also make more money.

reelbigchair

I do agree with your post almost entirely, but even the biggest union supporter has to admit, that the unions have made ALOT of decisions that benefited only the most senior pilots, while narrow body and RJ drivers have found themselves largely forgotten. The state of the industry and the political environment have definetily hurt ALPA's ability to negotiate effectively, but ALPA has done very little to protect the bottom of the seniority list. I think this is a major reason many SkyWest pilots have a hard time trusting them.

flybywire44

Skywest's vote ends on the 6th.

ghilis101

reel you are right, often times junior guys get completely screwed during concessions or when negotiating a new contract. but is it really the unions fault? i contend that this is not inherent to unions whatsoever. once again i will use the skywest pay example and what happened to the EMB-120 pilots last year. as the "narrowbody" guys (loosely correlating of course) in the company, they got sold down the river. And this was not the doing of a union.

When a union supports a TA or LOA or CBA that hurts the junior guys, its most likely because of who is in place on the executive committee and representing the union. Theyre more likely to be senior and could possibly be biased to themselves. But when times were good, everyone had it relatively good (except probationary year which has been bad almost everywhere) when it came to wages and work rules. Dont forget that you still have the power to vote. United successfully voted down in almost unanimous fashion their first crack at a lousy TA this past spring/summer even when their MEC said it would be good. Plus look at a place like continental. They are going to be extremely junior and totally "bottom-heavy." You think the senior guys are going to be able to run that place? Theyd have to convince all the guys with horrible QOL on the 737 to give in and believe me thats not going to happen. Youre going to see a lot of great changes for the narrow body guys there in their next contract. With a union you have a lot of power in choosing who represents you, and you should vote accordingly, and always vote. And if you dont like something you can run for a rep position.

The important thing is to stay active, stay involved, and dont sit back and think oh the union will handle it. Sure they will do what they can, but its YOUR union (if you get one). only YOU and your fellow pilots can make it work. Its not easy for those guys to get everything you want, but its up to you to let them know whats really important to you, and if they arent working for you, you can change that. Pilots are extremely apathetic and love to b*tch about everything (I do it all the time but Im learning to channel that negativity toward something good haha). If we used that energy to strengthen our pilot group instead and come up with really great ideas to improve our industry think about how much farther we will be down the road.

If you guys dont get a union thats your choice, but I would like to see you guys come together anyway and be a strong group

Flyer00

I agree with you....to a point. The bottom line is who voted in the T/A's and agreements? The Pilots. Yes, Worthless signed off on them, but the pilots had the opportunity to say no. People were scared for their jobs, or maybe some people just sold out for growth and quick upgrades, whatever their reasons were, EVERY member had a vote.

duvie

Thats hilarious!

Try bidding a specific pairings up to about 8% in your first layer. I'm around 75% down the list in my base and my entire line comes from my first layer (commutable 4 day trips)

I don't want to hijack, so PM me if you have any questions

skywatch

It is always about money....

http://www.unionfacts.com/unions/uni...ile.cfm?id=179

Top 10 International ALPA Leaders & Staff (by Salary)
NameTitle Total Compensation
Duane Woerth President $ 485,411
Jalmer Johnson General Manager $ 395,454
Jonathan Cohen Chief Counsel/dir Legal $ 382,641
Bruce York Director, Representation $ 379,586
Paul Hallisay Director, Gov't Affairs $ 330,648
Kevin Barnhurst Director, Finance $ 321,213
William Roberts Asst Dir, Representation $ 312,088
Don Skiados Director, Communications $ 310,454
Jim Johnson Sr Managing Attorney $ 298,908
Jeffrey Small Sr Contr Admin/mec Coord $ 282,860

BoilerUP

15-Jun-07 CHILDS RUSSELL A
Officer 19,000 Direct Option Exercise at $19.18 per share. $364,420

15-Jun-07 CHILDS RUSSELL A
Officer 19,000 Direct Sale at $27.57 per share. $523,830

15-Jun-07 RICH BRADFORD R
Officer 59,000 Direct Option Exercise at $10.13 per share. $597,670

15-Jun-07 RICH BRADFORD R
Officer 41,000 Direct Sale at $27.25 per share. $1,117,250

1-Jun-07 ATKIN JERRY C
Officer 10,000 Direct Automatic Sale at $27.46 per share. $274,600

1-May-07 ATKIN JERRY C
Officer 10,000 Direct Automatic Sale at $27.31 per share. $273,100

2-Apr-07 ATKIN JERRY C
Officer 10,000 Direct Sale at $26.78 per share. $267,800

8-Mar-07 ATKIN JERRY C
Officer 10,000 Direct Automatic Sale at $26.10 per share. $261,000

2-Feb-07 ATKIN JERRY C
Officer 10,000 Direct Automatic Sale at $27.12 per share. $271,200

3-Jan-07 ATKIN JERRY C
Officer 10,000 Direct Sale at $26.13 per share. $261,300

Airsupport

hahahaha,, yeah its to bad my bud only got a $.10 raise,,, looks like jerry made out pretty good though,, lets see.. 1,609,000.00 in 6 months.... not to shabby.. good thing he is thinking about his pilots right??? right..

dontsurf

um...seriously, this is silly. should we talk to guys at united or any other alpa carriers and see if they are happy with their executives' compensation?