Republic etc
 

I should know better than to put in my two cents, since it has no bearing on anything other than to have a go at a message board.
First, so anyone who cares knows up front,I am a Midwest Pilot soon to be furloughed. I have been reading off and on some of the exchanges on the board. They accomplish nothing other than to raise blood pressures.
To the Republic guys and gals. Most people know that none of you have had a thing to do with the dismantling of Midwest.We all should remember that a rank and file pilot has zero input to what management decisions are made and almost zero influence as to the decisions made by their union leadership. As has been pointed out, what do we expect them to do? Quit? Refuse to fly and be fired for insubordination?
As to the various comments regarding that ,basically, Midwest had it coming due to "their" ineptness. Well, not really. First, same as Republic pilots aren't at fault for their mgmt, neither are Midwest's. Secondly, we don't know what happened. Conspiracy theories abound. What we do know is that the dismantling of the airline by Seabury appears irrational based on available knowlege. Hence, to rationalize the events, we speculate as to the whys that lead us to the current situation. It is going to lead to airplanes being flown for lower labor costs and provide a precedent as to how to eliminate longevity costs. Simply put..bad for people who work for their daily bread(the bottom 90% of us), and good for those who make money by manipulating money(i.e.the financial sector, the TPG's etc..the top 10% of the population). This is quite possibly a planned occurance rather than simply a result of free market competition. So what do we do now?
1. Hope that Republic can make a go of this, whether we think it's fair or not. It's the only way that the unemployed of all three airline groups have a shot at flying soon. As to those that have found other jobs, best wishes,, but I think we should strive to have enough flying so everyone can say either "thank you for the job"..or if they so choose.."stick this job.....".
2. Reconize that everyone who is trained and qualified is,well, qualified. Disparaging each other just raises hackles. Every place I have worked has the good,the bad, and the ugly. I suspect Republic, Frontier, Lynx(who did I leave out?) and yes, Midwest are no exception.
3. Give people the benefit of the doubt as to their good will. Most people are decent who just want to be treated fair and be fair.There is always a % of exceptions.
I've more thoughts about all this, but this is already too long.
Curious as to the replys.

Thank you for your input. I only have one question, why wasn't Midwest sold to Airtran when they made their bid?. I can't imagine Republic's offer was better than Airtran's.
Anyhow, regardless of what, from a furloughed person I wish you good luck my friend.

I agree the line pilots at Republic have little contol over their union. Republics EXCO is a different story.

Talk about beating a dead horse. We get it. I don't think anyone out there seriously blames a RAH pilot for what their company is doing. And the other people that your post is meant for are going to continue to bash RAH because there is no other method for them to channel their frustration. Don't take anything on this regional forum too seriously, it's just a good way to pass the time. Best of luck to you, it's very unfortunate.

Excellent post and thankyou for your thoughts. Its nice to read a rational post every once and a while.


1) We work to integrate as fast as possible. No one will be happy, so lets hammer something out sooner than later to keep people off the street.

2) Once all 5 companies are one, lets work on a contract that reflects that of a major airline. It will come down to a strike vote. If this new company doesn't have industry standard wages or better and fair work rules, then burn the house down.

I look forward to flying with you

Oh pipe down Mr. GoJet.

I had a mainline captain the other day call the republic pilots scabs. I couldn't really say much about it as I was asking for the jumpseat, and what am I going to do, change his opinion? No, I'd screw myself out of a ride and he'd continue on blasting RAH pilots.

I just sat there and listened to him rant and rave about scope and everything else. I did ask him how the scope vote went down at DAL a few years ago. He did kind of quiet down after that. I think he got my point. All he said was he had worked too hard too long to fly little planes. MmmHmmmm.

I don't blame anybody for anything... well, except real scabs, airline execs and selfish folks like the ones at Freedom A and GoJet.

My thoughts exactly, I like the burn the house down part.

Well said from the original poster.

It wouldn't take very long to become a raging conflagration, either. The combined strength of a united pilot group's work stoppage would have an even more devestating effect on a" fee for departure airline" than a normal one because they not only are deprived of revenue but have to pay penalties to several legacy partners at the same time. The pilots at RAH have much more leverage than they know, if they only had the willingness to exercise it.