Quote:
Originally Posted by dashdriver22
Isn't that the same fee for depature that you worked before you got hired NWA? You worked at Express jet and they had the same fee for departure whitch was good enough for you when you where their there. Now that your their its the devil? honest question.
I can see how some could either get defensive or at the very least accuse someone of being "holier than thou" or some equivalent loss of perspective or even hypocrisy when this subject comes up and the person in question is against RJ outsourcing.
But no one can deny the overwhelming supermajority of former regional/outsourcing/ACMI/"Air Group" pilots now at "majors" who are against outsourcing,
and and significant number of pilots currently at the outsource providers who all realize that RFP style low bidding hurts everyone.
Even a pilot at a regional with no interviews at a major should be able to see that any "gains" they benefit from as a result of them winning an outsource bid comes at the direct expense of not only better jobs at a "mainline" but also harms their peer group too because you don't get the work in the first place, much less keep the work for very long, unless you help management cut someone else off at the knees (e.g. "deal them an ace"). And all can rest assured that long before they approach the semi-attractive rates at the top of their pay scale someone will do the same to them. And that is
irregardless (ain't wasn't a word either once so get over it, this is happening, just accept it) of the profitability of the "parent company" because as an outsource provider you are always in Chapter 11 in effect, because your gains are paultry and temporary and put your job directly at risk because only the low bidders get or keep the work in the first place.
Even the much touted consolidation in the regional industry won't matter much because all you need is one hungry young buck group of SJS'ers willing to deal someone an ace for quick upgrades and it upsets the whole apple cart. If that one ace dealer can't be found, management can simply create a new one and entice people with hyper "seniority jumping" bypassing all the suckers at established regionals who actually thought they could make things substantially better for the duration. They can't. The system is set up to prevent that. For every really good regional contract, and there have been some, there will be crappy contracts that get the work they once did, and there will be new regionals with not only crappy contracts but zero longevity as well, that will always keep them in check and help management roll back any gains with extreme predjudice.
If you are at a major, outsourcing is bad and it hurts your wages and benefits no matter the seat range or percentage of block hours because it erodes the entire foundation that your compensation package is based on. While you may be tempted to "sell" certain flying for a cookie, that cookie is temporary and that lost flying will, sooner than later, take away the cookie you think you just got and then some. Its like a mafia loan. You get your cash today, but the terms are impossible to pay back and you are under water quick, and often the only way "out" is another mafia loan, which you of course can't afford to pay, and so on. ALPA's much touted EF&A has not cracked that code yet, but hopefuly this time around they will.
If you are at a regional, outsourcing is still bad for all the same reasons, plus you are at a regional. With the exception of the super senior and the super junior hoping for a quick upgrade...ironically usually for the PIC time to go to a major in the first place, the perpetual low bidding will severely limit the value of your career.
Let's face it, regionals suck no matter where one is at in one's career, and that goes double for former regional drivers now at majors, because they get the suck while they are there due to the perpetual low bidding, and then get the suck when they move on due to the negative pressure outsourcing causes for all.
Don't mistake disdain for regionals among major/mainline pilots as arrogance. There may be some of that here and there, but most pilots respect the pilots elsewhere. Its not personal although its tempting to cloud the issue by making it so. And in case you haven't noticed, mainline pilots are not only torqued off about RJ outsourcing, but also about narrowbody outsourcing and widebody outsourcing via JV's and code shares. Outsourcing at any level hurts pilots at every level because it takes the inherent economic turbulence in the career/industry and amplifies it by allowing management, even in good times, a relief valve, eerily similar to the Ch. 11 courthouse steps in effect, to pull the rug out from under all of us, even as they play favorites from time to time with some of us. That is the "devil" if there ever was one when it comes to our jobs, both at the mainlines and at the regionals. Outsourcing hurts both, quite severely, especially over the long run. And that is why it would be wise for us to work as hard as possible to end it, and that starts with limiting and reducing it.