Have the proverbial "neighbor's kid" launching to EKU next year. We were talking about OO and the union(or lack there of) subject inevitably came up. So, what's the scoop? Do they honor things such as upgrade times etc. (nearly) the same as the union carriers?
Honest question as i have little knowledge of the happenings at SKW.
Thanks.

TRIGGERED.

Let me get my popcorn

Day-to-day operations function exactly like a union shop.

They have a contract with the pilot group, and a representative body which serves a function similar to a union. All airlines are subject to the RLA (railway labor act) union or not.

The difference is that the pilot group has less leverage, since the contract is harder to enforce for minor violations. But in the regional world market forces play a larger role than any sort of labor organization, so there's no real difference between skywest and other regionals. Historically about 1/3 of skywest pilots came from other (union) regionals in search of greener pastures. There's a limit to what unions can do in the regional world, since they are outsourced subcontractors.

IMO it would be nice is they had a union, but I certainly would not make that a priority. Geography, upgrade opportunity, and QOL would be far more important.

^^^ agree with the above.

However, there is one major violation of seniority and that is when it comes to new equipment in an existing base.

As SLC and PDX got the 175 existing CRJ pilots were bypassed for transition in order to protect the operation. In some cases they flew the CRJ (or Bro) to the last day and didn’t have a spot on the new equipment - and got displaced.

“That’s how we have always done it”

TFAYD

Most airlines have provisions to lock pilots into a fleet that's phasing out. It's really a safety thing, you'd have a continuous parade of noobs and displaced junior pilots being forced onto a sinking ship and then bailing as soon as they could get out. Everyone would be green-on-green. Fleet lock typically includes pay protection, and then you have bumping rights at the end. I could see OO trying to wiggle out of that though.

Many years ago, I was taking to a Skywest pilot who was complaining that her upgrade award was not being honored because her command ability was being questioned. She didn’t get the chance to go to training and told to wait a year. I have no idea what she did to pis someone off but she did say she had precious command experience in the navy, yet that didn’t make a difference. I don’t know how that would be grieved at a non-union place. Not that it would matter since the final decision rests on management and not a neutral arbitrator. THAT makes a huge difference in union versus non union. Hopefully, that was so long ago, that that practice has changed or it was an isolated incident.

Upgrade happens based on seniority. Weather not you make it through upgrade is another question. Those that don’t it’s VERY apparent they weren’t ready...

I call BS. She probably went to training and then sent back to the right seat. She probably didn't want to tell you that. And many years ago it was up or out...

I've known several guys that were sent back to the right seat.. and then later upgraded after working on some things.

SLC CRJ FOs have been bypassed on transitioning to the right seat of the ERJ in SLC. It's definitely been a violation of seniority. New hires last year were saying they'd only come to work at SkyWest if they could get the ERJ. The company gave those training slots to the guys off the street so they wouldn't go work somewhere else.

The new pay package has attracted a bunch of pilots and the company is now letting some of the FOs transition. Most of them have 8+ years seniority.

Our PBS system disregards seniority every month.