LNL76

Kind of like pilots who spend tens of thousands of dollars then ***** and moan when their crappy regional pays them $18,000 a year.

(by the way, weak attempt at humor with the "ho(m)ework" comment.)

rickair7777

Not sure how long the plaintiffs have worked there, but the rules have changed over time.

Their argument is probably something along the lines of the "contract" was "negotiated" by a "representative" group which was organized and funded by the company, and therefore may not actually have the employees best interests at heart.

You can in theory make the same argument about SAPA, but I tend to think it's probably much more valid regarding the FA group.

Name User

Not really, if those work rules were against federal and state laws, the employer should be forced to pay up.

Check Complete

The RLA which helped thousands of flight crews through the years is now being turned on us and helping management.

rickair7777

The RLA was an adjustment to rules enacted a couple of centuries back to keep labor from shutting down the key national infrastructure.

The previous rules were rationalized by national security/national interest, but twisted to the benefit of management. The RLA was a slight improvement on a bad thing which has it roots in the 1800's, well before airplanes existed.

The only reason unions don't try to abolish or amend RLA as it applies to airlines is because it's a big can of worms that everyone is afraid to open. You never know what sort of BS rules the airline coalition lobbyists might be able to buy off of congress. It could easily end up worse than it is now.

Is that a good reason to live with it? I don't know. Do you feel lucky, son?

tomgoodman

Management should be careful not to disgruntle the F/As, lest there be an outbreak of slide-blowing and door-jumping.

jcountry

That is interesting.....

Without any kind of CBA, I bet Skywest loses this one. Not sure what the damage will be, but it is pretty hard to require employees to do anything without every minute being paid.

disillusioned

I know FA's have it way worse, but do you not think the above is a perfect description of SAPA? Every pay package we have it is the sell job of "this is the best we can get" and "who knows what will happen if we vote this down" There is no negotiation on our part. It is more like accepting what the company is willing to give.

The theory of not having a union is that we can work together and share in the companies success without being obligated to align with a national organization that may not have the companies best interests in mind. The reality is that the company can just make changes to our "contract" without a pilot wide vote simply by getting SAPA to buy off on it. Block vs credit, EFB changes, allowing new hires to vote ect.... It would be interesting to see what happens with this. If a judge does side with the FA's, it pretty much will blow away any company rhetoric that the pilots have a true contract.

ClickClickBoom

If this gets legs and goes the distance, more than a few retired SKYW pilots will jump on the band wagon and pile on. The potential is very large, will be interesting. SKYW is unique in as much it's one of the few non-collectively bargained airlines out there. With 40+ years of union free operations, might backfire on them.

trip

Management> Err.. SAPA, we need an emergency meeting, how do you feel about organizing?