Ladies and Gents, forgive my ignorance but I need to ask. Because I have been in the world of airborne la enforcement and have never flown for the airlines, I have no idea what a SCAB is...! I was talking to some people about one day applying for the regionals and I get alot of talk about the scabs. They tell me not to apply or get hired on with certain companies because I will be considered a scab and be on the LIST...?? What list? Some have told me that pilots walk around with a list of names and refuse certain services if your name appears on it. What is this?? If anyone can break it down for me, please do because I am lost. If I transition to the Regionals one day, I need to know what Im getting myself into! Thanks!

 

A scab is someone who crosses a unions picket line to do the struck work.

 

Wikipedia on "Scab"

 

A SCAB by definition is someone who crosses a picket line, when workers are on strike. Others make up their own definition to mean anyone who will work for a wage that is low. Meaning, companies A thru Y pay their workers $30.00 per hour however company Z will only pay $20.00 per hour. Now, companies A thru Y are not hiring, but company Z is. Keep in mind, how much did you pay to get your training, but you always are looking for that shiny gold object in the distance.

 

Period....end of story. Any other assertion than the above is just Peeing and moaning.

NEVER fly struck work... EVER...NEVER...NEVER.

 

The Scab

"After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with which he made a scab."

"A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles."

"When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out."

"No man (or woman) has a right to scab so long as there is a pool of water to drown his carcass in, or a rope long enough to hang his body with. Judas was a gentleman compared with a scab. For betraying his master, he had character enough to hang himself." A scab has not.

"Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver. Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commision in the british army." The scab sells his birthright, country, his wife, his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled promise from his employer.

Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country; a scab is a traitor to his God, his country, his family and his class."

Author --- Jack London (1876-1916)

 

The "LIST" is a list of pilots who have crossed a picket line (scabs). Every now and then a list will be posted somewhere on the web. The ones I have seen go back to strikes around 1970. So, if one ever DOES get on the list, he/she will stay on the list until death.

 

THE list goes back to the 1930's. No, you will never get off of it.

 

S.C.A.B. = Strikeline Cross And Break

This term is not unique to aviation, it is widely used in any Union profession where struck work has been done.

 

Don't think there are any airlines out there hiring right now that would qualify you for a SCAB position. You may be disliked by the rest of the regional industry if you go to GOJET. But besides them, there are locations that are poor places to be employed by (Trans States, Colgan, Mesa, Great Lakes) But you'll still atleast look at each other as "in a battle together" despite how bad it sucks. Gojet guys seem to be looking from the outside in, and no-one seems to sympathize with them about their plight. If you're curious about that company, search it on the site, you'll have reading for hours and hours on end...Don't let this thread go down the toilet though with Gojet discussion.