SpiraMirabilis
Possible Subversive
Most people who ascribe to "accident chain" theory of accident causation would disagree with you. This includes the FAA and almost all professional aviators.
Dude, you have absolutely no clue and I am leaving it at that. I like being able to control my own destiny thank you very much. I guess you are all for the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer.
But let's remember, other fields are very different than aviation. When I make a mistake, 122 people die. When a cubicle-jockey makes a mistake, the software won't be ready for another day. Big difference.
FO's at regionals get paid so little, because unions haven't made it a priority for them to get paid more. They don't bother to use "negotating capital," as they call it, on FO's. I not sure why, but I suspect it is because people feel that no one is a regional FO very long (tell that to the Eagle guys), therefore the focus is on getting the CA's rate up.
Yet another reason some non-union airlines pay more than non-union is that unions cost money.
When you make a mistake, you are the first of those 122 people to die. I can't think of a better incentive to not make a mistake.
ALPA = "Taking it back"
Or, wait..
Wrong, as usual. ALPA's goal for many years has been to establish an industry-standard of 60% of CA's pay for FOs. That means that when CAs get paid more, FOs get paid more. When I was on the MEC at Pinnacle, all of our FO payrate proposals pegged the FO rates for every year of longevity between 59-61%. FO pay gets a large amount of consideration from ALPA MECs at the regionals.
60% may be ALPA's stated goal, but clearly it is not where their priorities are. Look at the regional airline payscales. FO's tend to top out at 40 to 45 bucks an hour after 7 or 8 years, even though the payscale goes up to 12 (or more) years.
My own previous employer of Air Wisconsin is a perfect example. Top rate at 18 years is $94 an hour. Therefore, the top FO rate at 18 years should $54 (plus change) per hour. But the actual rate is well below that, at $43 hour (46%).
Even PCL's own Air Tran: Top CA rate, $153. Top FO rate, $79. Going by the so-called 60% goal, it should be about $92. I know I know, they're not ALPA. Clearly that's the only reason.
Yet another reason some non-union airlines pay more than non-union is that unions cost money.
Oh, I would never tune out PCL. He's just too much fun too ignore.
Even Eagle doesn't have 9 year FOs. There's no reason to expend negotiating capital on a payrate that will never be seen by anyone. Take a look at the rates for the years where people will actually be FOs. Guess what? Right around 60% of Captain's pay. Neat, huh?
You can't possibly believe that it would be smart to negotiate an 18-year FO rate at Air Wisconsin. Hell, you can upgrade quicker than that at Airways.
I would never use our contract as an example for anything. The NPA is a joke. Please don't follow our example. We need ALPA bad.
Would you mind giving some examples of this statement?
It's a shame that you won't be around to reap any benefits that are brought back. Considering you're on the sidelines by your own choice.
Once again, it gets back to those two key words.
Vested Interest.
Have any pharmaceutical products to sell?
Do you really think that, given the current state of things, a 9 or 10 year (or more) FO at Eagle is outside the realm of possibility?
ALPA would rather expend negotiating capital elsewhere, and I suggested that it was Captain's pay.
Do think they were worth expending negotiating capital on?
then it stands to reason that a non-union company has, at least the ability, to pay more.
Skywest might be a good example. They seem to keep pace with the unionized airlines in terms of hourly rates, and overall W2 earnings. But I'm just speculating there. As I said, this is just simple mathematics.
I know plenty of people who I consider to be much less skilled at being a pilot than I am. Why then, should I hope to be paid just the same as someone who isn't as good at their job as I am? I have a serious problem with seniority over merit based pay.