Everything you said in this post is true, but we work for regionals. Regionals are contractors and are forced to keep cutting pay and benefits in order to compete to be the lowest bidder. You need to get to a major to get out of that kind of work environment.

Skywest has a good pay scale and crappy benefits. Other airlines have better benefits and a worse pay scale. They're all trying to do the same thing: lower overall costs to compete with each other.

Is it really better to go to a regional with worse pay because they have better benefits, or go to one with better pay but worse benefits? I'm not really sure what you're arguing other than "I hate Skywest."

 

Skywest done me so wrong? What I'm saying is that Skywest is also doing everyone in the regionals wrong! As for getting hired at mainline, its a matter of time for me. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to hold the line, at the very least. But thanks for actually commenting on the substance of what I wrote.

Its actually 38%. But even if its 30%, its been that much since how long? That's also whats been dragging us down, along with all the other things I mentioned and many many more that I didn't even cover. And those things you mention like 100% DH, no displacements, etc, that is good because its the industry average that was given to you because of others. We need more of the good things to outweigh the bad things. Its not the case here though. The weak areas are the ones that don't show up in the W2, management is smarter for that. And that's why negotiations without the added leverage of an NMB recognized bargaining agent will not do anything other than to rearrange the compensation from one place to another, like your last pay proposal you voted in. This pilot group has been hampering others, on top of the difficulties other pilot groups have to deal with with their own management. Its hard to negotiated anything when you have a pilot group who just takes that as their new average instead (especially when its lowered) of helping to set the bar in work rules here or benefits there. You have the leverage to do so if you are just willing to use it. And you would be able to prevent the average from going down more and yourself being stuck with that lower bar, instead of just complaining that someone else lowered it.

That's the thing, you complain about others lowering the bar that management will now try to give you, yet you do nothing to try to counteract that when you have the power to do so!


Sure, the business model is broken. But that doesn't mean that the pilots should be forced to take pay cuts in order for management's business model to succeed for the shareholder and their bonuses. Why are you guys here so defeatist when it comes to this?

Yes, I get it, Skywest is not the bottom of the barrel. That's not the point here. The point is that you should be the top of the barrel but you instead settle for mediocrity! By definition, someone will always be in the top tier. I would love to keep XJT there but it difficult with 3300 pilots anchored to our negotiations with your me-too clauses. So why can't it be you guys? Why do you choose not to be in the top tier? We help you by setting the average you so gleefully admit you are. Yet you have the leverage to increase that average but you are too apathetic to do otherwise? Its odd to me that an otherwise motivated group of people are happy to just be average instead at trying to be the best at EVERYTHING you do.

Anyway, the pay rates are a small part of it. On bulk, your benefits (retirement, health care, vacation, sick time, OJI. LTD, on top of some of the dismal work rules), are far outweighed by anything else. And some of you don't even know it.

 

I didn't read one word of that last post, yet I know exactly what it says.

 

What leverage do we have? How are we settling for mediocrity? We're currently in pay negotiations and as far as I've heard the company is talking more pay cuts. I can vote no on that all day but it doesn't mean they're going to suddenly offer us a pay raise. We clearly don't have any leverage because no one is bending over backwards to offer Skywest OR XJT any raises. Remember the concessionary contracts you guys voted down? Have they counted that with massive pay raises because you guys have so much leverage yet?

Remember the last two ALPA votes failed. ALPA has stated that they're no longer interested in pursuing Skywest. There isn't going to be a union here so if that's the leverage you're talking about it won't happen. ALPA doesn't even want it to happen.

 

Years. Company has written agreement of paying minimum 2/3rd cost with all work groups. As per SAPA president and Chip (to me directly, not hearsay) company is covering 70%.

 

First, I never said ALPA. You guys need to stop using ALPA as your excuse for not being union. You can easily vote in an independent union so let's just stop with that excuse now.

Second, the increased leverage you would have with an nmb recognized bargaining agent. With that in place, you instantly have more leverage. For one small example: management wants to put all the sfo pilots on reserve for the rest of the month. With a union, that can't just do that. They would have to live with the rules or ask for relief. If they ask for relief, this is your leverage. You use that leverage to see what mutual agreement you can come to. You scratch their back and they scratch your back. Not just unilaterally putting them on reserve with no real consequences. This would happen all the time because all the little things they have been getting away with, they would no longer be able to (without the cost of a grievance and arbitration), or they would make a deal with the union. This way they get what they want and you make small improvements. For example, we have about a dozen letters of agreements and three dozen memorandum of understandings that have become contractual, all because the two sides came to a mutual agreement instead of management just doing what they want like they do with you guys.

Next, since we have voted down our concessionary TA (total pilot cost reduction to the company), they have come out and said that they are no longer looking for concessions. It doesn't mean they are going to open the money vault but it's a significant move in the pilots direction!

Lastly, my point about settling for mediocracy is meant to point out that everyone on this thread always points out that Skywest is not at the top of the total compensation scale but it's certainly not the bottom. That's true but it's settling. That average is set collectively by all the regionals. But you guys work for THEE most successful regional right now! No one regional is going to have the best of everything when it comes to pay and work rules, but you should be striving to be in the top tier, especially with the financial success you have. So instead of complaining that other union regional pilot groups are lowering the average your management gives you, use the leverage that is there for you (union and financial) and actually raise that average rather than to settle for that mediocracy.

 

And where is this written agreement? Not that I don't believe you (I had JA tell me, directly not hearsay, that Skywest average total pilot compensation is 16% lower than xjt), my point is still valid even at 30%, but I'd like to see that written agreement anyway. So can you please provide a reference for me to look up?

 

This thread has had very little new information over the past 100 or so pages.

I swear certain poster's are just using copy/paste while changing a few key phrases. It's unfortunate what could be a good thread filled with information for those interested in Skywest is filled with rhetoric and opinion from people who do not work here but think they know what is best for our pilot group.

 

So much chaff in this thread. Nevets, et al. Can you please start a new "XJT vs SKW and how SKW rides our coat tails" thread? Seriously, we are NOT interested in reading this stuff. I Want to see what people are saying about what's actually going on.

 

Funded by who? 2% of every Skywest pilots paycheck is peanuts compared to 2% of a major airline pilots paycheck. Everyone points to the fact American did it but what do you think their average salary is compared to ours? 2% of my paycheck wouldn't even come close to the 401k match that an AA pilot gets from the company.

If you know how to create a few million dollars per year out of thin air from a bunch of regional FOs who can barely afford food and car payments then lets vote in our own Skywest Inc union! You can be president since you know everything.