bedrock

What happened is the RLA and the seniority system which makes a lateral move nigh impossible. As a regional pilot, you've got around 100K sunk in your diminishing or stagnant career. Until recently, there were very few non-regional airline jobs available, quitting means you start all over again at yr1 pay at some other dump of a regional. The govt. backed RLA, the use of bankruptcy courts to abrogate contracts and the seniority system means you are an indentured servant on a plantation.

Mainline airlines hire several regional airlines and then force them to bid against ea. other for flying contracts. So as regional pilots we are constantly being threatened with losing our jobs, if we don't take contract concessions. The worm is turning, and pilots have had enough. BTW, the RLA and weak unions allow the company to violate their contract with the employees as they see fit, and make restitution at some future date through arbitration. Due to these circumstances, morale at most airlines and especially the regional airlines which provide 50
% or more of domestic air travel, is rock bottom. One big reason air travel sucks is employee morale sucks. Former CEO of UAL is famously quoted as saying employee morale is not his problem!

flyguy23

The RAH TA is pretty much DOA. Teamsters AD are grasping at straws now to garner votes. The conference calls only made everyone more upset. No threat of this ta passing. Im hoping eagle guys dont cave to the threats. No one else is capable of taking your planes. Hold your ground and you will be rewarded.

meeko031

^^^plenty of captain upgrades are a "yes" vote to keep their seats, at least the ones that are currently in training right now!!! (20 upgrades)

BoilerUP

NOT that I support the RAH/IBT tentative agreement...

...but what exactly about it is "concessionary" from their current agreement?

flyguy23

Lets start with the cobase loa. Only a matter of time before that really screws over the pilot group.
No pay protection if you timeout at the end of the year.
Hot reserve will now be used.
Cx pay language so weak, current book may actually be better.
Must be contactable at all times on duty.
There are more but im in a bit of a hurry.
The worst part are the so called gains though. Most contain such weak and downright horrible language that we will never actually. See said gains. The nc knows this, so they keep falling back on using bargaining notes as an excuse. Only problem is we all know anything outside what is written in the contract will mean nothing.

Wemacboost

I know I'm gonna get criticized for this but this is just my take on Regional Airlines, Unions and Management as they relate to the Real world....I have many years of experience with real world management at a fairly large corporation as well as better than 30 years in the flying world. No I'm not employed by any of the airlines as a pilot or in Management.

The Corp world lives by the Golden Rule.......He who Holds the Gold rules!!
So lets relate that to the Regional's. The ruler (Gold Holder) would be the mainline carrier as they award the runs for all the Regionals. They will only release so much of the Gold to do this job. So the next Gold Holder in line is Management at the Regional level. They take their Gold in and distribute it as they see fit. But it is a set amount of Gold. The only way to increase the Gold at the bottom of the chain (us Pilots) is to take it away from other employees at the same company. Thus why getting an outstanding No vote is virtually impossible most of the time. I have not read the latest TA for either airline but my guess is that it has enough meat in it for the 10-20 year Capt to keep him complacent and vote yes. The mid term capt is complacent just trying to move to the mainline. Thus leaving the 1-10 year F/O (because of the retirement age being extended 5 years) as the main No voters.

This would be the same at every Airline and works in all Corporations be it airline or railroad or Grocery Chain. The Golden Rule will always be in Play. Us Pilots do not have a way to get to the Gold to Rule. We only get to occasionally play in the big boys sand box, we never get to own it!!!! This system has been in place much longer than any current pilot at any Regional or Mainline. The rulers of the Gold would just as soon shut down as to release any of the gold they have. So unless management just decides to screw the entire pilot pool so they can keep the gold for mechanics, flight attendants and front office personnel then the voting will always be swayed toward management.

Don't get me wrong I hope you can find a way to join together and beat down the T/A and make the profession a better place to be. Thus attracting more young guns to fill the seats.

PDTpilotXX

JA is a tool. Seriously. Met plenty of ALPA National brown nosers in my day... But he is something else. That said until Lee goes and some new blood is pumped into the executive office nothing with alpa will change.

Stanimal

I couldn't agree more with what you have said. I believe what is different this time is that the majority of Eagle, Republic, Express, and ASA pilots are sending the message, "Pay us or shut the airlines down." We understand it could put us all on the streets, but for the first time I can remember the regional community is united and not giving in. The paradigm of how the "gold" is distributed will either change or the airlines mentioned will fold.

Edit: I would also like to add that we have had it with our respective union representation and our now uniting through forums and social media to take a stand not only against the company but the unions endorsing these TA's.

SpeedyVagabond

Thank you sir. While I'd certainly miss the left seat paycheck I'll proudly stand for the profession. That's right, despite some idiotic claims from some in our ranks we are professionals and not blue collar workers. I've read lots of comments through the years that the Regionals will never compensate like the Majors. I believe every contract should be another large step in that direction. Right up to the point where it no longer makes economic sense to outsource. We're doing half the U.S. domestic flying. Concessions now are simply insane as flights are cancelled for staffing. Enough is enough! FUPM and my brothers and sisters.

ross9238

While most of what you said maybe true, I think you should also look at what the XJT pilots did recently. We have voted our equally industry leading TA down with an 83% resounding NO votes. This is not meant to toot our horn, but to let you know that this included the senior and mid term pilot group that you had mentioned.

Any pilot who has some self worth and thinks themselves as a professional, has understood that the bar should not be lowered any more. No one that I know of, myself included, wants that pot of Gold that is entrusted to the corporate elite.

The 83% from XJT would want our peers at Eagle and Republic to take a stand along with us to let our managements know that while they take their pay increases, we feel that we, as professionals, should be compensated properly with better pay, benefits and quality of life. I feel that if ever there was a time to take a stand for our profession, it is now. This is not only for us who are in the industry now but for those who will come after.