Qotsaautopilot

The other issue with this profession is that there will always be the dreamers ready to undercut you. Look at the cadet programs in Europe or even the regionals here. There is very little difference in the skill set required to fly a 777 or an rj. Maybe the compensation level at the regionals is below what the market demands right now but I bet if there were no unions in the US airline industry the market pay would stabilize somewhere around what frontier is paying with the FARs for work rules for all fleet types. This just so happens to be one of those careers that has a certain mystique and fun factor that people will be willing to do it for just enough to cover their education cost and not starve after that. Would a doctor or lawyer do that? No, because while those may be rewarding careers, they don't have to "fun factor" so no one is going to do it for free like the would to fly a plane.

Unionism in this profession protects us from ourselves IMO. Take a look at open time at any airline. Most have little restriction on open time pickups and therefore most of it gets picked up at straight pay. Whereas if we all united to not pick up open time then the airline would have to either hire more pilots boosting our seniority or up the compensation on open time but the free market prevails and many are willing to do it at straight pay. Now imagine the jobs were like open time. My guess is there would be plenty of pilots willing to do those jobs for less than they currently pay. Union group think protects us from that by giving us the feeling of power in numbers. If it were every man for himself my guess would be most of us would do it for less and those that decide to leave would be replaced easily.

The free market is a mother fukcer to the worker. If it's a low skilled job then the supply and demand forces push wages down. FYI most jobs in this country are considered low skill because technology is replacing many high skill jobs eliminating the middle class. With fewer high skilled jobs available you will see more people getting educated to do those jobs because the only other choice is min wage.

As more and more become educated you increase the supply of skilled workers competing for a stagnant or decreasing supply of skilled jobs. That pushes wages down for even once well compensated jobs. The last to fall are high skilled jobs that have the highest barriers to entry (surgeon) or the high skilled jobs that have high barriers to entry and are also unpleasant on a day to day basis (lawyer or Wall Street banker). Those first to fall will have lower barriers to entry and or have the appearance of a somewhat enjoyable work day (airline pilot) even though those are highly skilled and historically well compensated jobs.

Technology has squeezed the middle towards the poles increasing the supply of workers and bringing down wages. The two solutions without changing the supply and demand forces is to leave the rat race and strike out on your own. Build a better mouse trap and let the market determine your with. If successful you will be on the right side of the worker supply and demand equation and will be able to keep your employee's wages low. The problem is that the consumers of your products are usually workers that are constantly having their wages depressed so they demand cheaper products which requires you to depress the wages of your own workers so you don't take money out of your own pocket (the job creator).

The other solution if you wish to stay a worker the free market is working against you so the only way to leverage against the market is for current workers to work as a team and not as individuals. That means unionizing. You are your own are replaceable and insignificant even if highly skilled. However as a group you cannot be replaced overnight. That gives you leverage to keep wages up because even new entrants must work under the propped up wages of the CBA.

Yay for free markets.