Air Wisconsin TA Passes

[inthegoo]

We have so many FU@KING WH@RES in this business!!!

Yes, I am talkin to you AS$HOLE!!!!

 

[KingAirKiddo]

Best of luck to all my fellow UAX buddies at ACA, AWAC, and Skywest. You've all got a tough road ahead, thanks to a willingness by pilots at other carriers to work for less than industry average in the name of explosive growth and quicker upgrades (uh, look Beavis...it's a jet...that's like cool).

Whatever...

KAK

Enjoying being out of the rat race that is today's airline industry, but like a true addict ready to get my next fix.

 

[g159av8tor]

I figure I will be making the same if not more than I am now two and a half years from the date of this contract.

If I read you correctly: You, for example make 35K this year and in 2-2.5 years you'll again be making 35K a year. Now, you've lost money due to the steps back you've taken in pay, the fact that your contract makes no provisions to recoup that pay is money forever lost and inflation is about 3% per year. So, in 2-2.5 years (about 2005 when, again, you'll be making your original salary), 35K will be worth about 32.9K. So, your statement is technically correct, but your argument is off-base. Sorry.

Tailwinds...

 

[Wiskey Driver]

Yep. Isn't that what the Mesa guys said? And you, and Whiskey Driver, and others (mcpickle, etc.) screamed bloody murder. And called them all sorts of names. And bragged about what YOU would do, how you would never settle, you would shut the f*cker down. No ultimately, you just "did what you had to do".

Now, I'll just sit back while you all crawfish and tell us how "this is different". It's not really different. It just exposes you all for the pathetic hypocrites that you truly are.

You know what trainer FU!!! many of us including me vote no on this crap. Fear is a very powerful tool it worked on mesa and it worked on many here. There were plenty of us willing to stand up for the industry and fight this thing but lets face it, anytime you have a group of people willing to do the same job you do for much much less, you strike fear in those who have no ambition to better the industry. I guess in the end many are happy just putting on a uniform!!!

That being said, I can no longer bash those for doing what many in my own house have done.

WD.

 

[Cardinal]

YGBSM!

When I saw that concessionary packages were being pondered at UAX I thought the idea to be so absurd that it didn't even merit concern. Regional pilots taking concessions? The same pilots that make less than the ticket agents? The same pilots living on top of each other in what should only be a crashpad so as to buy the top-shelf ramen noodles? Surely this would be a dry hole....Yet I stand corrected. We have Regional FO's lining up for 8 year paycuts?!. Only in aviation. Nothing ever makes sense anymore.

 

[Rottweiller]

If I read you correctly: You, for example make 35K this year and in 2-2.5 years you'll again be making 35K a year. Now, you've lost money due to the steps back you've taken in pay, the fact that your contract makes no provisions to recoup that pay is money forever lost and inflation is about 3% per year. So, in 2-2.5 years (about 2005 when, again, you'll be making your original salary), 35K will be worth about 32.9K. So, your statement is technically correct, but your argument is off-base. Sorry.

Tailwinds...

On the face of it yes. However there are other provisions to allow in fact more money to be made. Open time paid at 150% will be doubled to 10% of total lines available. The check points at 2.5 / 5 / and 7 years allow for 2% pay above the average pay for non-wholly oned regionals. Pay increases are 3% per year (1.5% at anniversary date and 1.5% longevity) so at least (for the time being) inflation is covered.

No one likes the length of this contract even if they agree with what it has to offer. However the long term future had to be taken in to consideration. What was made clear was that if this contract failed to pass there would be NO further negotiations by management, and if (without a bid showing stabilized costs) UAL may not give us future flying (this is still not a given). The owners stated that other airlines are interested in using us but not at current rates so there again we may still had to take cuts to survive. This being the case they (owners) had a plan B.

Plan B - As UAL flying is awarded to other carriers and AWAC had no other airlines to service then the time line for wind down and closure was 18 - 24 months.

 

[JAFO]

I'm curious?!

So, is Mesa still the s#ithole of the industry? Are they still to blame for "lowering the bar"? Or are people now realizing that business is business, and people who need their jobs will do what they have to do to keep them? I'm just curious. I guess in a perfect world, everyone gets what they want. The problem is, it is not a perfect world. Keep your speed up!

 

[cheezpilot]

Hey g159av8tor,
I dont want to get into a pissing match, but you sound like one of our pilots who did not read the contract and your math is "fuzzy" to say the least. You are off base because you are making comments on something you dont know about.. PM me for more details. Remember that ACA, Skywest and us are all within 2 percent of each other now so if you take that average in 2.5 years and add another 2percent to it then we are at the top of the industry again. The only problem is that the likes of Mesa will be averaged in. Lets face it, ACA will take concessions. It may be soon it may be later. It may be in the form of not having a job. The way I figure it is that a 7percent pay cut for two years will save me a lot more money than getting furloughed for one year and then going back to our old wages. Like that would be a likely senerio anyways. Do the math. Maybe I voted with some emotion involved but taking care of my family is my top priority. Taking a 250 dollar a month paycut is way better than I expected. The new contract has provisions to let us fly more and potentially make more money than before. We still retained our 12 days off minimum. Our previous work rules were too restrictive to allow us to fly over guarantee. I had one month over guarantee pay last year. If I can fly an average of 4 to 5 hours a month more each month then My W2 will stay the same as this past year.
We are not bidding agains UAL, we are bidding against the creditors and banks that are backing UAL. The creditors are looking at the bottom line and that is it. Reliablility and quality of product are out the window. We are taking a risk by not going to Mesa wages because if the creditors tell UAL how to get out of bk all the UAex flying will go to the cheapest bidder. We are NOT the cheapest bidder and still are not guaranteed to survive with our new rates. I would never stoop to Mesa wages and work rules but we were going to have to take a cut now or later. It is simple economics, comprende?

 

[RJPilott]

Wonder how JO is going to respond to the Mesa pilot group when we all take concessions and are able to gain UEX flying over Mesa. Think JO was counting on doing more flying for UAL? I can see it now, JO's first memo to the pilot group, "Sorry guys, but since all UEX carriers have taken concessions we are no longer competitive and will need to renegotiate our contract in order to gain UEX flying, or the furloughs will start next week." I feel for those guys.

 

[Nindiri]

I've got no problem with Air wisconsin, it was your company and you guys did what you thought was best. I'm afraid you're in for some harassment, though, after the way some of your people here took cheapshots at Mesa, especially the crap about the jumpseats. When you say you were taking care of your family, people are going to remind you that they were admonished for not "shutting Mesa down".