Originally Posted by
NineGturn
If that were to happen the free market would come into play and people would jump ship to the next regional at equal or better pay and their original airline's training costs would skyrocket.
I think it's difficult for pilots to grasp this concept because they are so used to being controlled they don't understand what real freedom would be like. Basically it would mean you wouldn't have to put up with that crap like you do now.
The bottom line is that if you suddenly had control over your own destiny, the airlines would have to compete for your services against each other, something they don't have to do now. If they didn't compete, no one would work there.
9G,
Some additional thoughts.
Whatever you will fly some airplane for, I will do it for less. And Joe will do it for less than I will. And Bob will do it for less than Joe. Etc.
The ONLY reason that airline pilots are paid what they are is from decades of collective orginization that provided a buffer between what they were paid, how they were treated etc, and what the laws of supply and demand would have paid them.
When deregulation came we found out what the free market paid for a 727 pilot. About half what the industry was then paying.
The only reason that the new entrants even paid that much was that general aviation had been artificially inflated by the wages of airline pilots. If a 727 Captain made 120,000 then a Falcon Captain making 40,000 didn't seem so outrageous.The twin beech mail pilot made 30,000. Those days are long gone.
While I strongly support a national senority list within a given union, the idea of anyone being able to jump the current senority system based on free market principles will be, in my opinion, the beginning of the end of the superior pay, benefits, and quality of life currently enjoyed by the legacy airline pilot group.How so?
Management would give anything to break the current system of, lets call it tenure. What could be better, from their point of view, than to hire someone to do the same job for 70% of what they currently pay?(I know...you will say the contract won't allow that...it doesn't allow people to negotiate their own bidding position either, how long do you think any other part of the contract would be intact?)
Next, you hire someone to do the job for 50% of what the 70% guy is paid.
Don't think there are enough pilots out there who wouldn't work for that?Don't kid yourself. This step would remove all stains of scabbing, since it would just be a sanitized version of it. Senority jumping for higher pay.
In case you think I am some long time senior hog,I have had 4 different airlines fold from under me. I know damn well what it's like to start over. I also know that the only thing that creates ANY security once on a list, is the list.
Thoughts on how a national senority list could work are for another post.
(by the way..a national list is a different idea...the rules would be spelled out as the same for all...no shortcuts)