So just to be clear, this guy said hes excited to fly the airbus "for regional wages"? Or did he just say hes excited to possibly fly the airbus? Comes across as this guy wanting to move up to the bus and you extrapolating the whole regional wage thing. Which was it?

 

Remember, not voting was counted as "no", and there were many who didn't vote. I bet the percentage of people in favor of a union is much higher than you think, almost everybody I've talked to wants one.

 

While I don't necessarily disagree with you on this, where do you get this information? Was there a poll I was unaware of? I see a few good reasons to integrate lists, not just pilots but everybody:

1. No whipsaw
2. Bigger pilot group means greater scheduling flexibility
3. Greater bargaining power
4. More efficient company means more profits means more pay for us
5. <add your reason here>

 

Who is changing their story? I thought this didnt involve skywest?

If you think you can just take your ball and go home then you are in for a rude awakening. The benefits for your management have been laid out in front of them and no matter what you want to believe future growth or current flying will be included in ANY agreement that doesnt include one list. No one knows if we will try for one list and potentially end the deal but if we negotiate with your management then SKW flying will be involved.

If our union was childish and ignorant like many of the posts on these forums then our leaders could have stormed out of the meeting and thrown a hissy fit. It would have almost definitely been used against us if it ever went to court. We need to at least hear the proposal before they take a stand. Any SKW pilot thinking you will still have the same prospects for future flying as you do now (ie 800 million in the bank, cheaper work rules, non-union) is naive at best. Your management wants this deal to go through or they wouldnt have tried.

You pound your chest saying how smart your management is and then play dumb when your management is about to sell you down the river. There are competitors watching what SKW is doing, we arent going to be in CH 7 anytime in the immediate future especially with the potential for a buyout being what it is, and no one knows how this is going to play out. Nothing has happened but everyone is getting ready to negotiate and guess whose pilot group is left unprotected?

 

I am for one list but for SKW pilots to ever go for it XJT/ASA guys have to be willing to protect SKW bases. Many here passed over other airlines to come to SKW in order to live where they wanted. They will be whipsawed and give up pay so they can live in base. Many SKW pilots see integration as a land grab that opens up the base they waited years to get into (or are still waiting to get into) to any senior XJT pilot who is sick of EWR. I think there would have to be fences in the neighborhood of 10 years to get SKW pilots behind a single list.

 

Its been said time and time again. When XE did Delta Connection flying out of LAX & branded flying out of ONT those were the 2 MOST JUNIOR bases in the system. Believe if or not, most guys at XE aren't interested in West Coast Bases.

 

Except that there is nothing to stop management from merging Skywest/ASA/XE. It's pretty simple for them to throw you all together, and Skywest pilots have no protection against it.

 

That's probably true. I didn't even consider most regionals due to geography.

 

Thats easy. Make a fence so only vacancies allow for any pilot to transfer into base. If we integrate the lists by relative seniority, then no quality of life is sacrificed and we can maintain current QOL for all pilots, but allow greater flexibilty. FYI, the west coast bases would be the most junior bases as far as XJT pilots are concerned. CLE is our most senior base, IAH next, then EWR, then ORD.

 

Your management has given us leverage. Not only did they spell out all the benefits and reasons they want to buy us to the whole investment community, they told us they were willing to address our whipsaw, transfer of aircraft, staffing etc.

It certainly is a take it or leave it deal. They one list or or walk away from the deal. If it was really as easy as waiting until we go bk, they certainly would have done that at best. It's clear that skw sees great benefit in XJT right now. And there are others that don't have a problem with our contract as is that will also see the same benefits skw laid out for all during the conference call.

It's skw who has moved their goal post. They announced to the whole world that hey are buying XJT, had talked to all the labor groups and that they were all on board with making this transaction happen the way they envision it. BR even answered a question on what is different now then two years ago and he said that two years ago there were "things" that were out of their control. Now when they actually did talk to our union they tell us that they will walk away before one listing us.

In any case, I've said from the beggining that I rather stay independent and take the risk of being bought by someone else then to be part of this whipsaw.