Respectfully to all of you guys and in particular to 411's comments, I believe you guys are missing the point.
While more pay at the regional level and especially at the loading side of an airplane might be nice it is just the magnifier of a bigger problem.
The real issue is that there is no one to enforce anything anymore. The FAA has stopped enforcing any kind of a law and the form of retroactive punishments (using fines) does not help anyone nor does it change airline practices. More over considering the FAA is willing to look the other way about alot of these practices.
Reduced rest in the FARs was invented as a way to help an airline get back on track recovering from weather or some other schedule threatening event. Not as a normal everyday tool to be used by crew planning departments in advance. It should be mandated that these reduced rest nights cannot be scheduled in advance and have to be documented as to why they were needed, allowing only a very small quota per airline, per quarter.
It is a joke that after a 6-7 legs day (and yes we do that with the RJs thanks to 6 minutes takeoff to touchdown flights now days), you show up at an airport where the hotel shuttle takes 15 minutes each way, and once they arrive at the airport you need to be waiting for another crew or two or three or even four and only then be taken to the hotel. Wait until everybody checks in. Get your room key. Prepare mentally for tomorrow early show time because you need to be there at 5:10AM and the shuttle only runs every hour or half hour. So you end up taking a 4:30AM van.
I AM SORRY. THIS IS NOT REST. No matter how you want to look at it, you are absolutely not rested and there is no way to twist that.
Now add to all this bubble every day policies that the company mandates and the FAA approves without even reading.
For instance:
1) [let's start with something light here] - Flight numbers. Every now and then the regionals go about changing their whole numbering arrays as dictated by a mainline carrier. In my carrier we recently underwent such a thing. So now we have flight 3332 following flight 3133, following flight 3331, while flight 3342 is departing at the same time while flight 3242 is descending right on top of 3342 which just departed. You think I'm kidding? I can tell you which airport approach controls to monitor. Mix that with the above mentioned night's rest in instrument conditions and you got a disaster waiting to happen.
2) Food. FAA requires us to get food as part of the IMSAFE determination. Some of our planes don't even have cookies or crackers. Try to go get food at 5AM at any small town airport. Good luck.
3) What I like to call the Russian roulette. In several regionals you get policies by which you live. Some of them go to the extent of telling you that if you feel fatigued you should call it in, however between 24-48 hours after wards it is your responsibility to call your manager and talk about it. If you don't you get disciplinary action. If you do call it in on time, you are then granted the opportunity to present your case and if THEY deem it justified you are pardoned and get to keep your job with no actions taken against you. If they don't however, well you just won yourself another meeting to discuss the action that's about to be taken against you. I heard other people mention 5 times rule..... in some airlines it's as low as 3.
4) Many many more examples that I would love to document. If anyone is interested please feel free to contact me. I have rims of policies and approved airline manuals that are a laughing joke because it is so evident no one ever bothered to look at them closely before approving them.