Stick to the point, Lou.
The point is that you have to put a price on your labor.
Look into the financials of the commuters and read the analysts reports on the Regionals here in the US.
An awful lot of money is being made with sweatshop conditions.
Because there is a subgroup of pilots that will work under those conditions without demanding a fair wage and reasonable conditions.
Remember, I spent 15 years in the Regionals, and it was a dog eat dog place to work. But in time, we made it a fairly decent place to work.
ALPA is absolutely nothing without members. It is the collective efforts of the members that gets things done.
If a company wants to kill a Union, all they have to do is act like they have one. The Union as a labor organization will die on the vine.
Again, ALPA itself does nothing.
It is the efforts of it's members that get things done. Period.
Regional guys, in five years you will be flying the equivilent of a 737/Small DC-9. Shouldn't you earn the same amount of money?
If the Regionals want to improve their renumeration, they can do it if they want to. But I see darn few that want to more than just complain.
Tonight from JFK to MIA I had a USAIR Express pilot in the jumpseat. (At least until the door closed, then he has to sit in the back until some security things are changed.)
All he did was complain about his pay and lack of upgrades. We did talk that in the end it his him who sets his pay. I think he realized what I was saying, but he doesn't have a clue of what to do next.
For all of you, it is not the company or the union that sets your wages, it is the employees. If no one comes to work, the wages go up. Too many people looking for work, the wages go down. Period.