I'll tell you, that's ones thing I hope our guys are thankful for here, ALL of our lines, except maybe for literally a handful are 75hrs, as well as COLAS, 40hr Lines, 60hr lines etc.......all to keep as many guys on here as possible. There will always be ADV trips to pick up or open time to trade but having a lot of HIGH value lines really does squash the need for excess pilots

I'll stand by ya anytime in the SLC crew room. I'm FAT based and the sentiment there is to keep as many guys as possible on; it may have something to do with the fact that most of the Bro FOs here would be the first to go in a furlough. Personally, the thought of guys with families out on the street while young, single guys like me are getting 87 hour lines is pretty disgusting. I'll take my low credit lines as long as it takes to get through this. Hell, I've been taking advantage of our over staffing and traveling whenever I can. Most guys are with ya on this one bud

Im a SLC based FO and I am on board 100%. Give me 75 hours if it means keeping people on board. Let's keep everyone off the street. We need to unify and do what it takes.

At XJT, ALPA has worked out a deal for a voluntary leave program in which pilots are able to go on leave for 4 or 6 months with the ability to extend it for an additional 4 or 6 months. The pilot keeps his travel and health benefits and accrues seniority while on leave. They are going to offer another round of leaves. ALPA has also worked out reduced flying lines in which pilots can do 40 or 60 hour lines on a voluntary basis. The company has also offered a early retirement deal to all of its employees in the past and I think ALPA is working on another round of early retirement packages specifically tailored to pilots.

Its true that ALPA is only as good as its members/leadership. Also, you live within a contract and must negotiate anything else that falls outside the contract. Its a two way street between ALPA leadership and their respective management. If one or both of those entities is lacking, then you get results that are sometimes other than ideal. That is not to say that it wouldn't be worse without a union.

Well, you can do something about that by negotiating trip rigs into a pilots' contract.

Those people are probably the vocal minority. They exist at all properties and doesn't necesarily mean that a union wouldn't work there.

At XJT we have a voluntary program where pilots can ask for 40 or 60 hour lines on a month to month basis or on a longer term basis.

Your management will do just enough to keep 51% of their pilots happy.;)

But at ALPA you have the ability to recall your rep if you don't like what they are doing.

They wouldn't furlough in reverse seniority order?

Start filling out the cards!;)

My apologies for deleting some of your post in my post but I only had four comments and your post was quite long. I'll start by saying that I am pro-ALPA, and they did alot of good things for me when I got furloughed from TSA, and they actually got my resume in the door here at SkyWest BUT....

#1 Part time lines coming soon to a skywest near you.
#2 they seem to be doing alot better than 51%, every other airline with a similar staffing problem would've furloughed 6 months ago. Also everyone seems pleasantly surprised with the VLA program so far.
#3 no they wouldn't, yet another reason they haven't furloughed... yet
#4 Like it or not, nothing has changed in the last year to get the additional 21% of the pilot group to change from no to yes. ALPA will probably be at SkyWest someday, that day is still pretty far away in my opinion. If a vote were held today, I believe they'd probably do even worse than they did a little over a year ago.

Maybe apples and oranges but... over at comair you wouldnt find 1 single senior guy willing to accept a 75 minhr line (they barely got 30 to take the early out), the whole place would go nuts. And i havent really seen alpa do much at the regional level. nobody cares about scooter trash least of all the "senior" guys

1. I'm glad you have part time lines coming soon. I was responding to someone who seemed to be soliciting ideas so I stated the ones we have at XJT.

2. They do seem to be doing a lot better than 51%. More like at least 65%. My point being is that they only need to keep 50% + 1 happy. At XJT we have similar staffing problems in which they could justify another 200 furloughs months ago, yet they haven't...yet.

3. Happy to hear that. I only asked because the poster said, "...most of the Bro FOs here would be the first to go in a furlough." I didn't know if that meant that it would be cost prohibiting to furlough in reverse seniority order and the fact that you don't have a legally binding contract that states how you would furlough.

4. You are probably right.

Lower line values across the board are nice. However, you will always have some greedy scum who "volunteer" for the lower time lines & then go pick up open time. :mad: JERKS!!! :mad:

At XJT, they prohibit anyone on a reduced flying line to be able to pick up open time. They can pick up advertised trips though.

Hey SkyWest guys, would you feel differently about a union is it wasn't ALPA?

What if ASA decertified ALPA and went in house? Do you think there'd be a lot of interest in joining that union?