Good discussion so far in this thread but I think it is important to talk about a few things in more detail.
Question for you 121 guys: how does a pilot for another company avoid flying struck work? Don't they risk repercussions from their own company for refusing a flight? What if the company picking up the slack is non-union? Or are the companies that would pick up the slack for Allegiant part of the same union, and the union can back up those pilots at other companies who refuse to fly?
I understand the effort to show solidarity with the guys on strike, but seems to me that a pilot at another company would suddenly be in a bad situation having to choose between pilots being angry at him everywhere he goes vs negative effects on his employment at a company not involved in a strike. So perhaps Allegiant guys striking would cause guys at other companies in otherwise "happy situations" to be at risk of losing their job for refusing to fly a struck trip. It would really suck for Allegiant pilots to win their strike, but guys elsewhere lose out in some sort of collateral damage situation.
Usually, when a carrier goes on strike, they have a strike center manned 24/7 during the strike to answer phone calls from pilots across the industry to answer the question, 'is this struck work'. It can get VERY complex, but there are resources out there to pilots to help get that question answered.
But, before we even get to that point, a lot of places you would want to work these days for a 'career destination' have no desire to help their competition out if their competitors pilots seek 'self help' so (I think) it will hardly get to the point where other companies are flooding in to fly struck work. Not only that, but in today's industrial environment (largely thanks to the Spirit Pilots and how their strike was executed) it is going to be increasingly difficult for management at companies that are willing to fly struck work to find pilots willing to cross a picket line. Management knows this as well! Look at the great lengths that Falcon Air FO had to go through to even
attempt to save face. Listen to the youtube audio of them taxing out. The Spirit strike was a game changer for the industry. Spirit management really thought they were going to be able to get folks to cross the line whether it be Spirit Pilots or pilots from other carriers. In the lead up to the Spirit strike a lot of non-union pilot groups at supplemental carriers were very proactive and went to their management and said, 'don't even think of flying for Spirit if their company goes on strike as you won't have pilots to do the work'.
While a lot of things are grey in aviation, one thing is black and white.
DO NOT CROSS A PICKET LINE.
It is such a dicey game. Management isn't usually part of the union, so if you are interviewing at a union job, how does it look to management if you get fired from your previous company for NOT crossing? Of course I would not ever scab, but it is such a funny thing when you as a pilot are siding with the union, yet management is usually not unionized.
It is not as dicey as you would think. As a matter of fact, I would argue the opposite. At most of the 'career destination airlines' out there today, hiring is controlled by Pilot Management. So let us take a look at their backgrounds. The VP of Flight Operations at Delta used to be the MEC Chair (head of the union) at Northwest. He went on strike. The VP of Flight Operations at United used to be the Executive Administrator for ALPA National. He went on strike as well! The Chief Pilot at Alaska used to be a Captain Representative for ALPA. There are more, but folks should get the point.
@HRDiva can probably talk about this more, but I would say that the HR Representatives sitting in on the interview panel would look at someone who refused to cross a picket line and was fired for it, as one with a lot of moral character. If they didn't right away, the line pilots doing the interviews at your 'career destination airline' would certainly be looking at that pilot in that regard. Furthermore, management pilots
ARE part of the union, at least with ALPA. They are known as Executive Inactive members.
I hope the above clarifies a few things.
Good luck to the Allegiant Pilots.
Once again, while a lot of things are grey in aviation, one thing is black and white.
DO NOT CROSS A PICKET LINE.