word302

I'm not at Mesa. It still remains to be seen if the new pay raises will bring in enough new hires at the WOs to make a lateral move there a good choice.

chrisreedrules

It will be a good choice because more important than the raises and bonuses themselves, is the fact that AAG has shown that they are willing to do what it takes to staff the WOs. Furthermore, it was a shot across the bow to Mesa and Whiskey. It won't happen overnight, but the WOs are going to get the support they need and I don't see this as the last round of raises in our future.

word302

Time will tell. Before the raises there were definitely better options. Will it be enough to draw in the bodies you need? We'll see. If other shops up the ante, WOs will again be a tough sell.

BeatNavy

Someone articulate needs to call in on the next one, with facts, and bring your fearless leader back to reality. There was a lot of whining about pay, and he answered the same every time. He basically says the company needs to be thin with pay to survive and grow, and that Mesa pays more long/mid term. He also says Mesa has no problem recruiting. And that other regionals have to pay more because they have no movement and are doomed with their 50 seaters. And that the WO carriers are subsidized by AA and have the pockets to pay more.

Places like pdt, cpz, endeavor, gojets, commutair, and some others, ALL who pay more on the FO and CA side, have faster upgrades, and no one brought that up. So his year 3 reference, who makes more money at Mesa than at other places as an FO, is a historical figure applicable to 2013/2014 hires. If any FO goes to ANY other regional now, he will make more money, have better medical, and a whole slew of other things (not to mention flow and better travel benefits).

He said (a couple times) that once manning gets short, he will address pay. Someone should have brought up republic (one of his favorite references today). RAH only brought pay up after it was too late and planes were being parked/shifted to other carriers as they entered into BK. Then they had no issue staffing. I think that female tried to make that point, but didn't do it clearly to elicit the proper response from JO. And other airlines are growing too. Mesa is done growing, for now. That wasn't brought up.

Also, he says he wants to put money in the pockets of people already at Mesa, but he's only giving it to recruiters for the company who refer pilots in that referral bonus. That doesn't help retain the majority of pilots. That was brought up but it wasn't presented in a very effective way. Other companies are giving out some pretty significant retention bonuses, to everyone.

There was so much opportunity to absolutely dominate JO here (with respect and facts), and no one was able to do it. A couple good tries (food stamp reference and the poorly trained FOs reference), but hopefully you guys can organize a few good mouthpieces for the next one. If only you all had a union that was worth its salt and would send that kind of stuff out to you all. The union should be pounding its fists jumping up and down being vocal about how and why Mesa is so substandard, offering facts, figures, and comparisons to other companies. When I worked there I never heard a peep other than why I should vote for a garbage TA.

Good luck guys. Vote with your feet. $50-$60k starting at other regionals, with better medical, travel benefits, and commuter hotels/policies, and now a faster upgrade than at Mesa. Think about it.

HardLemonade

Don't bother. He's a kid at Skywest who has been very anti-wholly owned for a long time now. He thinks he's up on some fantasy high horse (unicorn) and never misses an opportunity to take a shot at one of the WO. Envoy is his usual target.

Insecurity is an ugly thing..but sure is fun to watch unravel. Just listen to him talk now: "if the other airlines up the ante the wholly owneds will be in trouble"

Yeah..that's a nice wish on his part. Ask him to explain how his travel benefits are better than ours. That should get him going for at least 5 pages.

Skyler02

All good points. As Mr Rumbold said earlier, as soon as someone challenged JO with facts, they were cut off.

His 3 year reference, as you said, is completely false. Any FO going to ANY other regional at this point will make more over a 3 year period. Even if you don't upgrade, 3 years of FO pay is more than you could possibly make at Mesa in 3 years. He said Mesa upgrades are 21 months. That's only IF they can retain and recruit enough FOs to keep upgrades going. Highly unlikely. And as was said on the call, upgrade times are coming down everywhere. You will ABSOLUTELY make more over the next 3 years going ANYWHERE else.

word302

Haha. Yup, you sure got me pegged.

iFlyRC

You can't win an argument with some one who doesn't fundamentally understand the situation. He only knows things from where he sits, not the grunts on the front line. We know whats coming, it'll be too late when he discovers it.

rickshaw

JO and mesa are a joke... Do yourself a favor and make the switch. You'll make more from day 1 almost anywhere. See what it's like to paid and treated like a human being. I won't get into you all being on obamacare or your per diem, maintenance's love of deferrals. The reasons are endless, put this cancer of a company out of its misery.

iFlyRC

The mass exodus will begin in 3....2....