Absolutely nothing! You have to look at it like this though - what's better - to be the highest paid with no future (a la ExpressJet) or the lowest paid and growing wildly (a la Colgan). There is a fine line obviously. But I think people put too much emphasis on pay alone. You don't want to burden your company with high pay rates that make you uncompetitive IMO. On the same token you don't want to work as *****s so the upper management takes your money for themselves.

If ALPA was a true union there would be one contract for all ALPA carriers regardless of company. Then we wouldn't have much to worry about in terms of undercutting.

As a SkyWest pilot you have never been on the other side of the fence where a company underbids you (unless you count the small amount of Colgan flying down in Texas and a few EAS routes from Mesa).

I'm not really sure what you are saying here. In regards to class envy, that's one thing (ie poor wanting the rich to pay all the taxes, I am against that) but when CEO's and BODs vote in huge pay increases and stock options for themselves that just is not right. I read an article that was discussing the differences in pay packages from CEOs here in the US and abroad. The funny thing was the foreign companies (such as Toyota) paid their CEO's significantly less multiples of the average employee salary than the unprofitable and bankrupt companies here. Reference past US Air CEOs, UAL CEOs, NWA CEOs in our industry. That's what I was referring to. It just isn't right IMO. I just don't think people are worth millions upon millions for running companies into the ground. If an average worker were to do that they'd get their butt fired with NO PAY. It's a corrupt system but there really isn't any way to change it.

 

Let me tell you - APC in no way turned any SkyWest Pilot into a rebel...You do know the type of person that comes on here, don't you? We're all vocal about what we believe in, and we're all whiners. We came here because we are rebels.

Therefore, TW is absolutely right - any group represented here is not done so by an accurate cross-section. Period.

 

What?? Did somebody just talk some sense on an APC board? Those here preaching nothing but "pay! pay! pay!" are the same ones that if given a big-shot chance at CEO would reward themselves generously.

Well said.

 

Good luck with that. Every pilot group wants something different, and every management group will stand firm or give in on different points.
On top of that, ALPA doesn't represent all the regionals, or even all of the unionized regionals.

 

This is precisely why I said "just a little bit more." Skywest management would never allow themselves to be put in an competitive disadvantage. They are too good for that to happen but without a union recognized by the NMB with the RLA behind it, there is no way to get that "little bit more" that Skywest can afford to pay its pilots. You are right about being a fine line but without forcing management into real "good faith bargaining," the pilots will never be able to get to that line.

No argument there. But we do live in reality after all. There are a lot more things that go into effect other than pilots when it comes to costs. But I do believe that having pay rates gained through real "good faith bargaining" helps other pilot groups as well and help mitigate the "underbidding" at least when it comes to pilot costs.

Im not sure what you mean about this. Skywest has been accused of underbidding.

We agree on this. But rather than complain about how much more upper management gets paid and wanting to bring it down, we should try to bring up pay of pilots.

 

Not good for the forward CG.

 

Uh, I think that's kind of the name of the game. Business 101.

Obviously, it can be predatory bidding (at a loss to tank another competitor), which I think is what you mean.

Give a jingle to JO at Mesa... he'll fill you in on how to do it.

 

So what did he mean when he said, "As a SkyWest pilot you have never been on the other side of the fence where a company underbids you (unless you count the small amount of Colgan flying down in Texas and a few EAS routes from Mesa)."

And why jingle JO and not JA if its the name of the game? Business 101.

 

Thats about where I stopped reading, and just started going, "uh huh.... uh huh...."

 

SkyWest pilots haven't experienced the pain and stress of having a codeshare removed and given to someone else.

It's never happened to me either, but every guy I fly with had it happen, and it sucks. It's the nature of the regional game, we know, but that doesn't change the fact that it sucks.

By being the highest paid regional pilots a pilot group could open themselves up to limited growth if not slicing their own wrists (think Comair). They had one heck of a pay scale, for which they went on strike for 89 days to get, and they ended up taking concessions and still having flying taken away.

As pilots we really are a commodity. If higher pay equated to more profit we would have a leg to stand on. All we have is a union to help us out and the last couple ALPA votes have gone no where.