I've been grappling with this issue since my first flying job at 19.
WHO decides what we are worth?
Last time I checked, nobody in the CEO seat has an ATP. They cannot do our job. Nobody can do our jobs, unless they have the license and the quals. ALPA should be able to shut it down any time they don't like what the CEO is cooking. But there are some of us who would cross a picket line, obviously.
Look at CAL in 1983. I got front row seats at that one, I could have scabbed and been a 24yr. old 727 Capt. like a few of the A-holes I was flying cancelled checks with did. But I understood what they were fighting for, and I wanted their pilots to win. Then I got to see it agian, with Eastern in MIA.
I knew some dirtbags who crossed the CAL line, and I had a lot of Eastern friends who lost everything.
So when is ALPA going to play the SOS card? Without that, we are all fkd, as we saw after 9-11 and the loss of all ALPA Pensions, pay cuts, etc. Nobody at National wants to get their hands dirty.
They're gettin' paid. They've got a retirement.
Or maybe they know Congress would sell our jobs to Emirates/Quatar/Etihad/China in a NY minute, if we make a stink and ask for "Too Much".
If I were king, there'd be a National Contract, with a floor for all payrates, benefits, etc. No more whipsawing and outsourcing to the lowest bidders.