Why do SkyWest pilots need ALPA or any other union? They seem to be doing pretty well without a group of thugs taking 2% of their money.

This has already been voted down by the pilots once.

I especially got a kick out of one of the typical clowns here predicting SkyWest will be ALPA in 2011.

But not to worry, whichever one of you clowns said it. Most of the pilots who post here aren't any smarter than you are.

 

A regional that makes billions, and gives out a 2% raise is a start. What about SKW new Health care that was forced on employees? High deductibles and HSA plans is what they have now, if im not mistaken (ill admit I dont know the whole scoop here). The union is not for present times, its for later, if you catch what im throwing. At XJT, can you imagine the cuts we would have taken if we didn't have the contract we did, when we really started losing money. Skywest is not immune to all this. A union is a necessary evil, sorry to say. Its been a good run Skywest, but you guys need to find a way to preserve it. Not saying ALPA needs to be the union that gets voted on either. I recently got a sneak peak at UTU, and I liked what I saw.

 

To finally begin to try to stop the whipsawing of ASA and XJT by SKW.

By the way, I think it's a SKW pilot that made that prediction.

 

The people that think skywest will have a union don't speak to many people at skywest. They talk to the same 30 or so people that complain the loudest. The thing about skywest and unions is they always underestimate the support. Last time they had less than 50% of the cards and when It came time to vote they only got 35% in favor. Most of those people have left and I expect that alpa will not even attempt to try again. It may be 2 years before there is even another attempt at even starting another drive. Now with the merger with asa and xjt I expect the support to dwindle to nothing as most skywest pilots don't want to be merged and risk the loss of senority. Everyone I've talked to are worried about having to merge with asa and xjt and would rather stay non-union to prevent that. The so-called "whipsaw" is a myth that has never happened at skywest or even asa.

This "talk" on these boards and others like it about a union are coming from xjt and asa pilots who only want skywest to have a union to benefit themselves. They talk about wanting to "help" us but what they really want is a merger so they can start pushing out people from the west coast and poach the positions that open up from the people that have been waiting years to get there.

just like the last time in 2007 the loudest voices were from other airlines. The usual crowd thinks "it can't fail" this time even with the new voting rules but they will be in for a rude awakaning yet again for the 5th failed drive if they ever even attempt another one. Alpa has stated they will not try again for many years even with the new voting rules. As I have said before, you underestimate your support every time and this time is not different. But if you want to take another shot at it again go ahead, I will just enjoy the free heidis again.

 

I don't know why so many at SKW are so anti-ALPA. Alpa, while not perfect, has some big benefits. I'm not referring to pay and QOL isuues alone here.

If you have an incident, who is going to send in the lawyers to defend you when you are named personally in an injury case?

When you have a heart attack, who is going to have the resources to help you get your medical reinstated? You can substitute any other medical issue for heart attack.

ALPA does far more than fight for better compensation and work rules. I don't agree with everything ALPA national, or my local MEC for that matter, does, but overall I am happy with the product I receive.

By the way, what is the future of PPO health insurance at sky west?

 

At XJT our west coast bases were our most junior bases. Pretty sure no XJT/ASA pilot will push your folks out east, actually im positive about that. The ones that want the west are way to junior to push anybody out. People on our message boards want IAD and ATL more than any west coast base. Believe it or not, I bet you have some folks that want to be in east bases as well. Plus your crazy to think that we would just make one list and everybody gets to go wherever, whenever they want after its done. There would be fences in place that would only allow pilots to move into vacancies. You have too much trust in your management if you think everything will be status quo for the coming years. UAL and CAL are merging, things are a changin'. Point of making one list is to have all pilot groups on the same page, and to have one contract that we can have together. XJT/ASA cant negotiate **** otherwise, as the Skywest cert. will just be used to work against us.

 

You are right. We do want to benefit ourselves by getting rid of JA using your pilot group to whipsaw ASA and XJT. It is not a myth. It's reality. Didn't someone say that Inc pulled aircraft from ASA and gave them to SKW? Anything ASA ever tries to do is and always be compared to Skw. That is the definition of whipsaw. They did it to XJT as well with cal being the ringmaster. I was in the room when JA told us that to be "cost competitive" we need to take a 16% paycut! The CPA they had negotiated with cal took that into consideration along with synergy and economy of scale savings so when cal said you either give us as good of a deal skw offers or we will serve you your 12 month notice and wind down the CPA. XJT was forced to sign skw's CPA, we took 7% concessions and here we are again.

This is a real life example of whipsaw!

 

You make it sound like XJT ALPA needs the support of SKYW pilots to get one list.

It's already guaranteed in the contract.

 

I just don't understand the mentality of SKW pilots as far as wanting to remain non-union. Is it really that great? Are you afraid of losing the "bubba deals" you cut with schedulers because there isn't a pesky CBA to interfere with you getting what you need when you need it, while every other pilot cuts their own deal? ALPA is not perfect. It's run by a bunch of political types who probably should have been Congressmen. But 2% is small change for what you get. It's worth it, even if you don't ever need to use the resources that are available to you as an ALPA pilot. I buy insurance for my car, house, medical needs, my teeth. I guess I just see ALPA as a 2% insurance payment.

And as far as a Unified Seniority List. What are you afraid of? With the Alleghney-Mohawk merger protocol of the RLA and the McCaskill-Bond Act, you will be fine. No one at ASA or XJT or SKW should be or will be able to trample either of the others. Most XJT support a percentage integration, which seems most fair to me. If you are 50% seniority at any of the 3 companies, then you get a 50% number on the new Unified Seniority List. If you are 20%, you end up 20%. There will be base/aircraft fences for a number of years to prevent expensive re-training cycles and base and seat displacements, no one will be kicked somewhere they don't want to be for a long time. But if vacancies open up, well, we're one big happy family now, so everything new goes up to bid for everyone.

As far as a percentage integration goes, a '96 ASA hire, a '00 XJT hire, and a '02 SKW hire could all be right next to each other on the new list (just making this up, I don't know the percentages in terms of Hire Date at any company except XJT). So I may end up junior to a SKW pilot who has 2-3 years less service than me. I may end up more senior than an ASA pilot who has 2 years more service than me. It's a new airline. We have to let go of stupid high-schoolish ideas like "I have been here longer, so I should be more senior" That is very counter productive thinking, no matter what company you are coming from into the new mix.

I hope we can all be One Airline on One List. And if not, I hope XJT gets a judge to order an injunction against the sale as being illegal as proposed, XJT goes bankrupt (I guess) Uni-Cal gets stuck with our leases, JA gets to eat a steaming pile of his own hubris for not simply agreeing to treat his employees fairly and equitably, and XJT becomes a worthless horribly performing operation that no one can give away.

If I were an XJT stockholder, I would be writing JA to just agree to meet the terms of the XJT pilot contract, and avoid a lengthy court fight, so I can get paid my $6.75.

 

Not all of us want to remain non-union. I don't expect a big change in pay or even QOL issues if a union was voted in. I do want the legal backup that a union would provide. I would rather not hear "Were not going to follow the policy manual on this one." anymore.