Oh and it's not that I don't like ALPA. I just think that Unions (any) really make the labor force lazy. Even if someone doesn't do a good job, the company can't touch them cause of a contract. When that person should actually be fired cause they can't hack it. You don't hear of any unions in the military now do you? and what's the QOL there? I hear it kinda sucks sometimes. They tell you to get up and move somewhere (they call that deployment) to places that are just the best places in the world "Quality of life"wise (anywhere people are shooting at you). And wait a second, what do they get paid? Anyone? (I really don't know but it's usually crap) (I train navy pilots) Yeah so let's bring in a union so that we can be greedy and not have to work as much and still keep our jobs.

OK now that that rant is over I"ll flip flop. Unions are good when you have a load of crap for management that really does treat thier workers like *******. With a union the workers can band together and get what they deserve. I'll give that to the unions. But like I've heard before it seems like most management knows that now and won't force the unions to do much or else they risk strikes and that usually doesn't look good or profit well for the company.

So hopefully I've covered both sides of the issue well and will get an A+ for this paper and not recieve too much crap from my fellow pilots who know a lot more than I do cause they have to deal with this everyday.
Peace (dang that was long)

 

As a Mesa/Airmidwest pilot let me say this about that...

I at least have a manual on how I get screwed. And someone to help me when the manual gets thrown out the window for something the company finds more to there liking.

 

WRONG!

I've done Mesa and SKW, and I can safely say that you are 100% full of sh*t.

All of the other alpa alumni at SKW seem to agree with me on that...

 

I'd tend to agree with Rickair.

I have only seen it from the ALPA side of the fence.

So what's the word Rick, I thought I heard talk of ALPA being on the property at SKW?

 

Career pilot, where do you currently fly? I only know of one ALPA regional that MAY have a better quality of life than SkyWest, and that would be ExpressJet. And I have never seen their contract, just heard good things about the company. I was at an ALPA carrier (Trans States) for a year and from my experience there is NO comparison.

I talk to many more people who are anti-ALPA than are pro-ALPA, and many of them fly or have flown at ALPA carriers! I am just curious as to what airline you fly for that makes you say ALPA gets its pilots better quality of life because the VAST MAJORITY of people I have spoken with who have been with ALPA carriers would disagree with you in a heartbeat (again, my experiences).

Also, when Trans States furloughed and then became extremely short, they were going against the ALPA written contract and were telling pilots to grieve it later, but they were needed to fly right away and if they could not make it to fly, they would end up in the chief pilot's office. So what is the point of having ALPA when the company can use scare tactics like that and the pilot can only grieve it later? I have never had to grieve anything, but in an instance like this, how would the pilot gain by grieving this?

Thanks for answering the questions!

Sincerely,



The Kool-Aid Man! Drinking the SkyWest Kool-Aid, and Uncle Jerry pours doubles!

 

Still up in the air on that, not sure what the timeline is or which way it's likely to go.

 

Aviator4life,

You have to wait another 6 months to apply at Skyw. Why wouldn't you take the job with XJet, a great company by all of our standards, stay with them for a year and make a lateral move to Skyw IF THE OPPORTUNITY EVER PRESENTS ITSELF (at this point obviously a big if)? I can't imagine turning down an offer from XJet to hold out for Skyw, maybe a job with Colgan or another middle of the road regional.

To comment on what someone said about us needing more guys like that who aren't willing to just accept the first job and hold out for something better. I to a great extent buy that, that is when we are talking about turning down a job with Mesa or GoJet, but not XJet!! And to what you said if everyone we to just only accept a job with the better companies. Doesn't work like that my man, there aren't enough positions at those better companies, that just means a lot of people wouldn't be working!!

 

mccube5,
To answer your question. I didn't know I wasn't going to get the job at Skywest. I wish I had gotten an answer from them a little sooner so I could have excepted the job with XJT. I agree with you about holding out on Mesa or GoJets but not on XJT. And I really thought about doing the Express thing for a year and moving over. But I had interviewed at Skywest and didn't know yet and was just on the verge of hearing from them (5 to 10 days) and had to give ExpressJet an answer. So without anything to fall back on I took a gamble and Skywest didn't take me. Call me a risk taker or whatever.
Ok here's another question. I can reapply to XJT in 3 months and Skywest in 6. So do I do the 1 year thing now or wait 3 more months and try again for skywest? I know both the interviews and can prep for them both a bit better. Will ExpressJet look at me again (I'm sure they don't like having someone turn down a job offer and then come running back) and then what if I don't get Skywest (Ooooohhhh the drama)
Yeah food for thought

 

Clearly avi8tor is not in a rush and does not need a job- more power to him/her. The reason he/she started this thread has thus eluded me.

 

BS. I know guys that have missed nearly 20 days in a year and have never heard from management. If you're not fit for duty, call in sick. We get 20 to 40+ hours of sick time per year.