POPA

Here's a thought:
Is CHQ going to cease to exist once all of the 50-seaters are gone? Will CHQ start flying bigger planes once our contracts with AA & Continental are up, and we don't have those scope clauses to worry about?

BoilerUP

The 175 payrate at RAH is equal to or less than a buck better than AWAC's concessionary 146 payrate once you get beyond the 6th or 7th year. Well, for captains anyway. FOs? Entirely different story.

The 175s are there and it isn't the fault of RAH pilots. What will be the fault of their pilots is if they fail via bargaining to get work rules and hourly rates at or near the top of the industry to fly them, and if they don't pay their FOs at least 60% of captain rates for an airplane that large.

flyguy81

i personally don't want a industry leading contract....who in their right mind wants to be at the top and end up like comair? get the pay close to the top, add some work rules, tighten up the language and call it done.

BoilerUP

After Bedford and Heller continue to pocket millions off your backs?

Way to fight for what you rightfully deserve...

ToiletDuck

Bedford and Heller have taken a small company and grown it at a very significant rate. Out doing most other regionals. Our pay is not dragging the industry down and we have good work rules. Some complain just to hear themselves but overall we have a great company. Better than most. You can knock it all you want and talk Air Wisconsin up all you'd like but with the playing field the same one has continued to grow by leaps and bounds. If Air Wisconsin had the same as opportunities RAH has I would have applied there, but it doesn't. Yes our FO pay isn't the highest. Don't go looking around or you might find that trend at most places. We are currently in negotiations and with our company making money hand over fist there is only one thing that's going to happen to our contracts and that's get better.

ToiletDuck

What are you smoking? RAH has three, well actually 4, certificates already for that exact reason. Anything bigger than 50 seats is on another certificate. If they needed flying with bigger seat counts they'd use one of the other certificates. Will we start flying bigger planes once our contracts with AA & Continental are up? Fly them for who? Are you saying you expect CHQ to magically jump from 50 seats up to 70+, violating other people's scope so we'd lose their business, when they could simply use the Republic or Shuttle tickets? Don't forget that once again if it's above 50 seats it wouldn't be on the CHQ ticket. We aren't simply going to just start flying 170/175s for AA and Continental. Scope is on their end, not ours, and with them in negotiations and the company making money hand over fist it isn't changing.

The thing that Bedford is currently grinding his wheels on is thinking about starting his own "airline" that's part of skyteam using 175s to try and bypass Continental scope. How do I know this? He said it when he came to Columbus for the meetings in the crew room. Whether or not this is possible is beyond me as you'd have to get your hands on some pretty serious inside info. Regardless of what happens CHQ is completely out of the picture with that. I think RAH even has a 737 laying around somewhere so no telling what they've got their mind on doing.

BoilerUP

I don't, nor have I ever, knocked RAH or its pilot group.

I've said on more than one occasion that I know literally hundreds of RAH pilots and that I applied there all of 2006. Despite being a former intern (who busted my butt for CHQ and got good reviews) who kept in contact with folks there and being current on the CL-65 I couldn't get an interview. I wanted to work there because I lived in IND and wanted it or SDF as a domicile, and would have left AWAC without hesitation improve my quality of life. I eventually moved out east and when I did RAH quickly faded from my employment radar.

I know that RAH has a good pilot contract and I know the circumstances around its ratification better than most, likely including yourself. I support you folks 100% in your negotiations and will walk a picket line with you if it comes to it...but your own EXCO Chairman has stated he doesn't think you'll get trip and duty rigs and doesn't want to spend negotiating capital to get them. That, combined with pilots who think their compensation will cause the company to shrink, does not bode well for your negotiations. With as much leverage as your pilot group has with the E-jet product, I hope my doubts are proven WAAAAY wrong.

Besides, the playing field is NOT level between my company and yours. RAH is a publicly traded company while AWAC is privately held. The returns required to make a private investment worthwhile are far greater than those required to keep shareholders satisfied.

This isn't a "my company is better than yours!" argument, so don't make it out to be such.

BoilerUP

Chautauqua
Republic
Shuttle America
#4????

ToiletDuck

It's early in the game for the EXCO to say what we are and aren't getting. The union board of ours has something like an 84% attendence rate and nearly everyone has already agreed to vote no on anything without trip/duty rigs. The pilot group won't budge until they get it. The current contract isn't bad and we have no reason to settle for anything less than trip/duty rigs. The thing this group needs more than anything else is for Gene Sowell(spelling) to get fired from teamsters and get new representation. He's the only jack@ss I've ever known that could take something so black and white as tihs and lose the grievance about me getting 401k matching my first year which is obviously less than 6 years.

ToiletDuck

There is another certificate that was bought a few years back. Supposidly they make one flight a year on it to keep it current. I can't remember the name off the top of my head. I thought Sun Country but that airline is still active. I'll try and get the name of it.