Observations on SKYW

[DrunkIrishman]

Just wanted to make some observations and see what others have to say about them as well as add their own.

-Not even half the pilot group voted. Over 60% of you said you simply didn't care about your future at Skywest. Meanwhile, your company spokesman says it is because you are confident in the company. If you don't use your right to vote, you don't deserve it!

-Being a non-union group, Skywest does "ride the coattails" of other organized groups. That is the reality of market forces. Incidently, this can also go the other way where organized groups are chasing non-organized groups. So it seems to me that the two cancel each other out making this a moot point.

-ASA was not "saved" by Skywest. If you don't believe me, look at Comair. Last time I checked, Comair was still in business.

-A no vote to the Skywest ALPA drive was NOT a no vote to becoming unionized. I do not like ALPA National myself....but I sure as hell wouldn't vote for Teamsters instead!

-Threatening Skywest pilots with names like scab is childish at worst and completely inappropriate at best.

-Hoping Skywest pilots don't move on to other carriers is one thing, but making it a personal goal is another. No pilot should go out of his or her way to ensure Skywest pilots don't get jobs at other airlines.

Any other thoughts?

 

[XPOO]

Other than forgetting to mention the whole 90-seat flown for 50-seat pay thing, I think you brought up all the available flame-bait SkyWest has to offer. Good job, this thread should go at least 6 pages.

 

[Beergut]

Other than forgetting to mention the whole 90-seat flown for 50-seat pay thing, I think you brought up all the available flame-bait SkyWest has to offer. Good job, this thread should go at least 6 pages.

Everytime I see one of those SKYW 900's in ATL (which is often) it makes me want to puke. I can remember the way a lot of us felt when the 700 was coming out and they agreed to fly them for 50 seat rates so they would get more than anyone else and they would renegotiate their pay for industry standard rates in a year in a half. (never happened and the new rate was negotiated more that 18 months later) That may have been the beginning of the race to the bottom. I also remember seeing JA in the crew lounge in ATL and him telling us the 700 guys were going to take a paycut and if we didn't then he would start transferring assets. (whipsaw) I must say though that he's a good looking fellow and a snazzy dresser.uke:

 

[ASA_Aviator]

Other than forgetting to mention the whole 90-seat flown for 50-seat pay thing, I think you brought up all the available flame-bait SkyWest has to offer. Good job, this thread should go at least 6 pages.

I'm no SkyW pilot, but aren't there two rates now, like we have at ASA? I'm pretty sure they have two rates.

 

[Andy Neill]

-Not even half the pilot group voted. Over 60% of you said you simply didn't care about your future at Skywest. Meanwhile, your company spokesman says it is because you are confident in the company. If you don't use your right to vote, you don't deserve it!

I wanted to ask about this. I saw a tally of the ALPA votes and the 6 non-ALPA votes, but I haven't seen any numbers from the NMB on No votes cast at their site or by phone. I'm not talking about the No's by default but the actively cast No votes. Anybody have those figures? There have to be some, right?

I don't think it's fair to say that 60% didn't care enough to vote. We have no way of knowing how much of that is a deliberate act of not calling and how much is apathy.

 

[joe_pilot]

I'm no SkyW pilot, but aren't there two rates now, like we have at ASA? I'm pretty sure they have two rates.

Yup. there's an override for 700/900 pay. Not much, but it's there.

 

[ILS8L]

not quite

I'm no SkyW pilot, but aren't there two rates now, like we have at ASA? I'm pretty sure they have two rates.

I'm sure a Skywest guy will chime in ... they truely do have only one rate. They do get an overide for the time they actually fly the 700/900, but the way I understand it, all other time is at 50 seat rate. (ie. vacation, training, cxl, downgrade). It would have been better for both pilot groups if we could have united, but alas, they failed to look past the beam of light coming from SGU.

 

[Goose Egg]

-Not even half the pilot group voted. Over 60% of you said you simply didn't care about your future at Skywest. Meanwhile, your company spokesman says it is because you are confident in the company. If you don't use your right to vote, you don't deserve it!

Well, to be fair, all the company-generated literature about the ALPA drive said that a call to the NMB to vote "no" could inadvertantly be counted as a "yes" and to prevent that from happening, to "leave the phone on the hook." In other words, I don't think that 60% of pilots don't care about their future at SkyWest. We'll never know the exact figure of pilots that intentionally did not vote, but from the talk I've heard around the crew lounges, there were very few on the fence--they either voted "yes," or voted "no" by not calling.

Being a non-union group, Skywest does "ride the coattails" of other organized groups. That is the reality of market forces. Incidently, this can also go the other way where organized groups are chasing non-organized groups. So it seems to me that the two cancel each other out making this a moot point.

So why did you bring it up then?

ASA was not "saved" by Skywest. If you don't believe me, look at Comair. Last time I checked, Comair was still in business.

This is one that I don't quite understand either. I'm not sure what the rationale of purchasing ASA, and I'm not sure what we are doing to help them. Ostensibly, it was to provide an additional revenue stream (it is business, after all). But some of the methods employed in managing ASA leave me scratching my head. I think the icy vibe when I rode on ASA in my SKW uniform said it all. Sorry guys, I don't get this one either.

A no vote to the Skywest ALPA drive was NOT a no vote to becoming unionized.

Oh, I think it was.

-Goose

 

[WalterSobchak]

Ya know what we can all agree on? Pizza!

I like my pizza with Canadian bacon, sausage, and extra cheese. The California Pizza Kitchen BBQ pizza most definitely rocks. And, the ol' lady has me eating ham and pineapple lately. Pretty good, I must admit.

 

[MoreDaysOff]

The reason you see no specific information for no votes is because it's not possible to call in and vote no. The voting instructions specifically indicated how to vote for representation but did not mention how to vote no.

The 60-65% that did not vote are not apathetic. They participated. They actively voted no using the guidelines established by the NMB.