ASA/ExpressJet

Tell them you would be happy to take a pay cut from an adjusted inflation pay rate and ask for 20% pay increase because 24% would be an accurate pay raise
 
nmineau said:
Tell them you would be happy to take a pay cut from an adjusted inflation pay rate and ask for 20% pay increase because 24% would be an accurate pay raise
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It would be really nice if salaries kept up with inflation, but that isn't the reality of today's US economy, unfortunately.

I would post a link to some interesting articles/charts about inflation and salaries in the US, but last time I posted a link I got banned for spamming.
 
If we voted no the judge had already told the company what to modify on the 1113C for him to approve it - which would have been much worse than the TA. Or we would have shut down. I'm out of Pinnacle but the fact that we stayed around helped me get hired elsewhere.
 
L-16B said:
If we voted no the judge had already told the company what to modify on the 1113C for him to approve it - which would have been much worse than the TA. Or we would have shut down. I'm out of Pinnacle but the fact that we stayed around helped me get hired elsewhere.
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Well then. This was allll worth it then wasn't it?


But who said anything about pinnacle anyway? Feeling guilty I guess.
 
Come on guys, there's no point in arguing about who is trashing the industry the most. As long as the majors are putting the screws to the regionals, there's not much that can be done about it. Even if Pinnacle and ExpressJet hold the line, someone else will come along and undercut them.

I think this will be a self-correcting problem. My theory is that as soon as the regionals start cancelling massive amounts of flights due to staffing problems, the majors are going to have to take back some of the flying to keep their systems intact. That will create even more hiring at the majors, and the regionals will shrink to manageable levels, essentially keeping just the "lifers." Some of them will go out of business probably, and there will be more consolidation.

Who do you think will still be in business in 5 years?
 
Seggy said:
Did you (or anyone else who liked your post I questioned you on) attend a road show concerning the Pinnacle TA? How do you know what the pilots were REALLY facing when they voted?
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Obviously I didn't attend a roadshow. I did however read up as much information as I could find on the matter, as it is obvious that it would later on affect us too.

Its no secret the company was playing the "give us this or we'll shut you down!" card. You don't have to attend a road show to see that. In fact, lately I've found myself to be just as skeptical on anything released by ALPA as I am by the company.

I think if I was in a PCL pilot's shoes, and I very well could be in the near future, I'm going to call the company's bluff. General observations/opinions as to why I feel that way are as follows:

1) At best, my income has been stagnant since I hit second year pay back on '08. Yes I have received yearly raises of a dollar or two, but every year my expenses have increased. My health insurance is more expensive, groceries cost more, gas, everything. My family and I aren't struggling financially, but it certainly isn't easy. It's not like we're living the high life either. Yes we own a house, but only because our mortgage is less than what we'd be paying for in rent. We rarely travel. Both of our cars are over 10 years old. Again, we're not struggling, but the lack of progression in this career already is creating many sacrifices for us. Making even more just so that I can continue to fly airplanes for a living is something that I'm not sure I'm ready to do. I'm ready to start living like an adult. I don't want to have to check my bank account every time its time to put gas in the car. I'm not sure what I'll do if a TA with significant concessions passes. But I guarantee you that I'll be looking for other work, even if it isn't flying airplanes.

2) I take pride in my work. This isn't just a job I took because I could throw 40k at a flight school and be an airline pilot in 90 days. Its a passion I've had my entire life. Every time I fly I try to be better than I was before. I hate that success in this industry seems to come down to who is willing to do this job for the least amount of money, not because they have more drive to actually be any good at it. I've seen it all over the industry, but now that it is potentially hitting me personally, it is making me question whether I want to be a part of it anymore.

3) Even if I look at concessions as an investment. I give up a bit of my pay so that my company can go out, underbid someone to get more flying, and I finally can upgrade. I simply don't have the faith in my management to pull that off. Quite often I get the feeling that I could run this airline better from my iphone than the army of people they have working in headquarters. A great example happened yesterday. Captain 1 is going to hit 30 hours of block in 7 days sometime tomorrow. The way they chose to fix that is taking captain 2 off his trip at one of the hubs. He will work a flight to an overnight with captain 1 deadheading in the back. Captain 2 now overnights with that crew and deadheads back to domicile the next day. To replace captain 2 they deadhead captain 3 out from the domicile to the other hub. He finishes the rest of the trip with me. End result, cancellation pay for captain 2, deadhead and block for captain 3 equalling what captain 2 will make in cancellation. And two unnecessary deadheads. The easier solution would be to drop the last round trip from captain 1's pairing and have captain 3 fly it. Captain 1 and Captain 2 tried to explain that to scheduling and they just couldn't wrap their heads around it.

4) If the company truly is struggling financially and needs the money, they need to work hard to make sure that situations above don't happen. Unfortunately they're a daily occurrence. To quote a friend of mine: "If the company is in trouble, its not because I make what I make."

5) Somebody in this industry needs to step up like the Eagle guys did. If everybody did this, we wouldn't be having this problem. Right now is the absolute best opportunity to try to end all of this. Right now even the best (less worse?) regionals are having a difficult time filling classes. How is taking pay concessions going to help recruiting? Even if they shut us down, are there enough new pilots and people willing to give it another shot starting all over again at another regional?

6) We should be a real union. Our company basically said they want concessions so they can undercut bids for new flying with other airlines, some of who are also represented by ALPA. When that was brought up, the answer should have been an absolute no. The way the "bridge agreement" was used to trick Pinnacle pilots into voting for a crap sandwich is at best incompetent. I've seen screen shots of the website used for voting. Something along the lines of "I vote in favor/against the (blahblahblah) contract and bridge agreement." Really? You had to put that in the title? I don't even work for that airline and I knew that was part of the deal. Our union is starting to seem like a bunch of used car salesmen lately. They should be embarrassed.

There, that turned into a bit of a rant, but none the less. You didn't have to attend a roadshow to know what the pinnacle pilots were up against, or to know what we might be up against.
 
Bama said:
Well then. This was allll worth it then wasn't it?

But who said anything about pinnacle anyway? Feeling guilty I guess.
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Boom.

Nice, lol. Yeah, Im seeing a trend with the New Seggy.

Seggy, you did move on right? Over at Spirit now?

Look man, you did great things and contributed positively to the Colgan pilot group. Might I suggest you enjoy Spirit and kick some ass over there, instead of thinking every thread is gonna turn into a bash Pinnacle thread, requiring your saving?
 
surreal1221 said:
Boom.

Nice, lol. Yeah, Im seeing a trend with the New Seggy.

Seggy, you did move on right? Over at Spirit now?

Look man, you did great things and contributed positively to the Colgan pilot group. Might I suggest you enjoy Spirit and kick some ass over there, instead of thinking every thread is gonna turn into a bash Pinnacle thread, requiring your saving?
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Hes since moved on past Spirit I do believe.
 
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