Ok, I'm not sure how your scope issue will affect the deal. It seems like XJT got bought. Now, if the XJT group can't resolve their issues with scope to their satisfaction, I don't think this means "closing the doors" at XJT.

Are you suggesting some type of (probably illegal) job action?

 

I'll call your bluff, anybody with a family that would rather be out on the street in this airline environment hoping to get an interview at the few airlines that are hiring, one of which maybe SkyWest, rather than accept a merger with another good airline and work for a company with good employee relations that has secured your future for another 10 years is selfish and shortsighted.

You went from looking down the barrel at bankrupcy to having your jobs secured virtually status quo for the next ten years and you're upset?

SkyWest is a long way from perfect but we've never had the "burn the house down" relationship with management. Most of us respect and understand their intent to run an efficient and profitable business while still paying their employees above average wages. People in the US live in such an unbelievable bubble. In this world, I'm thankful for food and shelter; an good and stable employer is icing on the cake. Personally, I don't believe most XJTers share the sentiments being stated here, because if they do I'd almost rather let you sink and watch all the regionals go into feeding frenzy mode.

 

People are reading the XJT contract like that is all an arbitrator will reference if it goes that far. When any contract issue under dispute goes to arbitration they also take into account the notes that were recorded while the relevant section(s) of the contract were negotiated to better understand what was intended by the parties when the agreement was written. If these notes are referenced in determining what was intended by section 1, there will be no way to say the purpose and intent was anything other than to ensure the section apply to all levels of successorship to XJT holdings Inc.

The question will be is SKW Inc. the successor to XJT holdings Inc. or not?

It will be very hard for an arbitrator to determine that you don't actually own something you have announced you have bought through a company of a company that deposits money in your accounts every month.

We shall see.

 

I agree, and I appreciate the more mature tone than I responded with. I personally have no objections to one list, I too think it is in the employees best interest. My frustration comes from what I perceive as entitlement from a pilot group that was on board a sinking ship. Time will tell

 

If the "bluff" is called. SKW Inc. will not like the result. I think a lot of the folks here, myself included, would rather leave this industry if this is what is required to stay in it. I am a 10+ XJT captain with plenty to lose. But I will not be party to what it seems SKW Inc. wants to set up here. We give far too much of our lives for far too little in return already.

Management is making this into a joke of a career. Pilots' lives are the punchline.

 

It's not an entitlement. It's a signed contract, one party expecting the other to meet the terms. If you agreed to buy a car for $10,000 and handed the seller $5,000, would you expect him to sign over the car? Accepting the contract is part of the terms of purchase. You buy an orange, you get the peel too.

 

Please. What are you going to do? Quit? There are thousands of guys who will gladly take your spot for $20k/yr.

Job Action? Sick out? Pamphlets? Refuse to fly on SkW planes? What exactly do you think you have leverage with? I don't see it.

All bluster. Reminds me of a union leader I knew who was pretty good at speaking. A natural. Good at stirring up the troops.

But, the smartest thing he ever said, "this union does not now, nor will ever, hold all 4 aces. Never. And when push finally comes to shove... if we can't win in Congress, court, public opinion, etc, we will each go to work, just like we do every day.

You may not be happy, but you will go to work, and live to battle another day."

Go file your lawsuit. But don't threaten bad things if you don't get your way. I suspect SkW, Inc would love to hire hundreds of $20k/yr employees to replace as many 10 year veterans as they can.

 

"Jobs secured virtually status quo?" Listen, you just don't get it. We are trying to help you guys understand. If there are 2 companies, or 3 or 4 or 5.... then none of them is secure, none is status quo ever. None has any security other than a belief in management's goodwill.

How has SkyWest determined what equates to "above average wages?" The average of hard fought union contract wages at other airlines maybe? SkyWest pilots are the Conscientious Objectors of airline labor. You have no problem with other pilots getting blood on their hands going off to war fighting, for years and years sometimes, over every last cent with their managements and then taking an average of those rates as "industry standard." God forbid if you ever had to go to the front lines and fight a battle for yourselves. Conscientious Objectors don't fight because they think if everyone were like them then there would be no war. SkyWest pilots must think every airline management should just agree to pay slightly above industry average wages and avoid all these silly contract battles that take forever. So basically, both Conscientious Objectors and SkyWest pilots LIVE IN A WORLD THAT DOES NOT EXIST.

As airlines consolidate, there are less and less companies and pilots wages from which to determine an "industry average." Sooner or later SkyWest pilots will realize they have to pick up a rifle (or a union pin) and come fight the war too.

 

Tony, I think you're putting words in our mouths. Taking the risk of fighting to enforce our contract, and accepting the possibility it may kill the deal and XJT may go Bankrupt and we all lose our jobs is not threatening any kind of job action. XJT is at least 2-5 years from BK regardless. Scope was the centerpiece of Contract 2004, we're paid less because we wanted scope. All of a sudden we should just roll over and concede contract language that was earned by sacrificing wages for 6 years? Anything else is a job action? I don't follow.

I think many of us, including myself, expect the deal to go through....that doesn't mean we're not playing with a full stack of chips and shouldn't play them. The SKW purchase falling through would just be status quo, nobody is threatening a group walkout after that, some may quit...but they have a right to do that. "Watching the company burn" is something we've already been doing for 2 years. Some are just stating they'll take their chances with the same if this doesn't work out.

 

Giving up scope will guarantee the jobs are not secure. Without it, there is nothing to prevent skywest from renegotiang with united/cal to transfer 205 planes from XJT to a new [edit:delete religious reference] gojet.