Originally Posted by
deltajuliet
When was the time any grassroots movement succeeded? Since the traveling public moans about service but overall is complacent with relatively cheap fares, public pressure won't come from them. Without public pressure, the only force that could influence legislation would be blood priority. You'd essentially need an accident directly resulting from low pilot pay. Colgan is the closest we'll ever come (i.e. commuting across the country, poor working conditions, etc.), but that only changed rest rules, not the economics.
So without the elimination of the Railway Labor Act or some kind of "pilot minimum wage," all we have is the hope that a pilot shortage does drive wages up at lower and then upper levels. So far it looks like regional management would rather lose market share and perhaps even shut down over giving pilots more money. Is that spiteful or is that spiteful?
The RLA is legislation that I was referring to. It definitely needs to be undone, though that would prove extremely difficult. Pilots could obtain wages respective to the position IF they had some power; the RLA keeps our hands tied. Imagine if airlines added 10 dollars per ticket that went straight to the pilots (on top of our current pay). That in itself would give pilots a lucrative salary. The flying public wouldn't bat an eye at ten dollars...especially if they knew it went to the very people who were responsible for their lives. The problem is that most of the public thinks we are already very well compensated. Also, any gains in ticket prices go straight to executives who already make millions. If a company can go on strike, it will get attention...make the public aware of what's really going on. As of now, RLA prevents that. Change will have to come straight from pilots...a grassroots campaign to educate to public. I don't know the exact answer, but I am sure willing to do my part.