whoops I mixed up dalad and daldude heh. Youz guys sorted it out though
Originally Posted by
Pineapple Guy
I think our profession now places too much emphasis on seniority, to the point we have significant "winners" and "losers" among our pilot group; based on nothing more than the day they were hired, relative to the thousand of others. Anyone hired in the "back of the wave" in an individual hiring cycle has a disproportionately lower career earnings potential, and while this was always true to a degree, the length of the post 9/11 lost decade has really amplified the normal effect of this.
But good luck trying to get a majority of pilots to agree with that, and actually formulate changes to mitigate it....
Surprising, and well said. The seniority system rewards folks differently for doing the same job (virtually). This is usually an indicator for an unfair practice (witness women and minorities in workplace progress), but we all accept it because it's a way to do it we've all agreed on, and there USED TO BE an expectation that it would all work out evenly in the end as we all aged. That is no longer true.
I am amazed every time I see MORE power given to seniority these days... if ever there was a time to even the playing field for lifestyle and expectations, it would be now, but instead we continue to broaden the gap between haves and have-nots with various boosts to seniority bidding power. Every single scrap that makes it down to the bottom now, no matter how small, someone above says, "Hey that should have been MY scrap, I'm senior!" Of course, it's kind of understandable as HE has been waiting for better scraps for a long time too...
I understand Emirates breaks their bidding up into 6 cycles of 2 months each. The bid group is broken up into 6 sub-groups. Every 2 months their position rotates as to which group bids first. Within your GROUP, your seniority matters. So if you're senior you ALWAYS get best pick of what your group gets, even if your group is bidding last. However, if you're junior, you at least have 2-4 months of the year where you might get something decent, you're not the waterboy every day of your life forever. This seems to me to be on to something, a more equitable distribution of lifestyle at least. Your seniority still gives you the #1 important power of bidding category (aircraft, where you live/fly, and your relative seniority in that category), but doesn't take EVERYTHING from those below.
Problem is, when the system breaks and there is slow or no upwards movement, every guy in the entire pyramid feels he hasn't gotten what he SHOULD over the last couple years after paying his dues all the way there-- and is that much more likely to fight and claw over every scrap that makes it to him! It's a Ponzi scheme with only one winner when it breaks, as it has.
I could be wrong on it being Emirates doing this, but it's still a good system/point. I think if your replaced the word "junior" with "woman" or "guy who's been doing the same job as everyone else for 15 years vs. 25" and then tried to justify our system to someone, the glaring inequities and lack of meaningful justification would become embarrassingly obvious.