Diadem wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2019 9:15 am
Sky pays substantially more than Jazz, and GGN was so unreliable, with such terrible publicity, that AC was going to drop them sooner or later anyway. If the work had gone to Sky, tons of Jazz pilots would have moved over to make $8 more per hour. Jazz pilots signed on to be the lowest-paid regional pilots in the country for the next 16 years, and you think that's helping the next generation?
You have to look at the bigger picture. Jazz's contract far exceeds that of any other mainstream regional in Canada. Even if we compare first year FO at Jazz v. Sky, when you factor in per diems, benefits, pension, ESOP, etc., the total package at Jazz exceeds that of Sky. Hell, even our scheduling rules are far better. I haven't worked more than 15 days in a month in over a year. Look at the nightmare that is Sky's present scheduling situation, then consider that at Jazz all a new FO has to do is pick up 1 WDO every few months to make up the base pay difference, all while still getting most of the month off. Honestly, I don't think your argument holds.
As for GGN, everyone loves to note their unreliability, but they posted better on-time performance and flight completion numbers than both Sky and Jazz in 2017 and 2018. I'm also quite certain they were the cheapest CPA carrier, especially given how Jazz had to reduce their profit margin to zero to make this CPA deal work.
What I do see is that the lower scale at Jazz makes it more likely that people will try to move to AC as quickly as possible, regardless of the conditions, and this will help to suppress wages at AC; when you're making $40/hr, AC flat pay sounds like a dream. If Jazz pilots made what SR crews do, they'd be less inclined to leave so soon, whereas people who would previously have been content making a career at Jazz now see it as a stepping stone. If AC had a harder time finding qualified applicants, they would have to sweeten the pot. Jazz pilots have helped to degrade the entire industry with this deal.
This is purely illogical. No one is holding out on AC because of an extra $8/hr. As for pointing fingers at the Jazz pilots, well our present regional situation is precisely due to GGN and Sky, so I'm not sure what argument you're trying to make.