Blue-collar worker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A blue-collar worker is a member of the working class who typically performs manual labor and earns an hourly wage. Blue-collar workers are distinguished from those in the service sector and from white-collar workers, whose jobs are not considered manual labor.

Blue-collar work may be skilled or unskilled, and may involve manufacturing, mining, building and construction trades, mechanical work, maintenance, repair and operations maintenance or technical installations. The white-collar worker, by contrast, performs non-manual labor often in an office; and the service industry worker performs labor involving customer interaction, entertainment, retail and outside sales, and the like.

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I think most pilots' collars are white (unless you work for JetBlue). I think the distinction here is a non-manual labor workforce that is typically highly educated (at the majors at least). We're probably more like service-sector employees than anything else.

Oh, and I wore a flight suit for 20 years in the military, so I was a green-collar worker, except when I worked in a staff job in an office in my Air Force Blues where I was, of course, blue-collar.