1900luxuryliner

Two things:

1. As a whole, pilots are not viewed as individuals who provide value, on an individual basis. They are seen as a group. More specifically, a labor group. Management views labor costs as something that hinders their ability to turn a profit. In this industry, there are very few forward-thinking upper-level managers who go by the philosophy of: "if you treat your employees well, they will put forth more effort, have better work habits, have less attrition, less training costs, etc., and in turn, will actually subsidize their higher pay and quality of life."

2. Unlike many professional and management positions, the experience level of pilots really has no value. For example, if a person goes to interview for an upper-level HR position at a company, and they bring up that they have a doctorate degree, 20 years of experience, have managed large HR teams, are hailed as speakers at industry conferences, etc., they will have more negotiating power for their wage and quality of life than someone fresh out of college with a BS degree in HR management. This is because there are many levels of HR management positions. The higher the level, the fewer qualified candidates, and the more negotiating power the experienced individual has. With pilots, we are all on the same level, as far as management is concerned. Because pilots all do the same job, whether they have 25,000 hours, or 250 hours, their experience is not valued. If a 25,000 hour pilot goes into an interview, and tells a lot of great stories about heroic adventures of handling complex emergency situations, such as flying the airplane with an engine failure on one side, and an engine fire on the opposite side, and tries to use these experiences to negotiate a higher salary, the interviewer will basically say, "yeah, that was a cool story, but why would I offer you the salary you want if there is a 250 hour pilot standing right outside the door, willing to do it for 1/2 the price?"

Overall, unions are a necessary evil. If management actually cared about having the "best and brightest", unions may be less of a necessity. Because we are viewed as a group, with our wages only hindering their profit ability, unions provide us a way to stand together, as a group, to negotiate fair and equitable wages. It helps curb what supply and demand would immediately destroy. It is a beautiful theory, however, reality can sometimes make one question the value unionism. In my opinion, it has proven itself to be the best way, no matter how flawed, over time. Remember, almost all of the original Legacy contracts were negotiated through unionism. The break down of Legacy pay and quality of life has mostly been through the break down of union contracts and unionism. Granted, a lot of the break down was the direct result of the RLA, and bankruptcies; but, these two things, ultimately, have led to the weakening of unionism and union contracts. This, undoubtedly, has caused many to question the validity of unionism in this industry.