Airline Pilot Central Forums - View Single Post - Will pilot pay ever go back up?

06-08-2016 | 01:56 PM

#14

MaxThrustPower

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When previously describing how changes would probably prevent a return to the wages of the golden era, I forgot to mention another major factor: the watering down of the effectiveness of the Railway Labor Act over the past few decades.

Prior to deregulation and before the consolidation of the industry, unionized airline employees were not so hamstrung in implementing "relief" actions such as striking. Strikes, even at the larger carriers, were not uncommon.

In the last quarter century, there have only been a handful of strikes by pilots or cabin crew in the United States airline industry. When was the last time you heard of an an airline strike that really caused a serious disruption in commercial travel? For the most part, you haven't, because the only ones that have been released to "self-help" were relatively minor airlines, not the large carriers. The government claims that airlines today are too big and too important to inconvenience the traveling public by shutting down.

Here's what I show for the past 25 years, 1991-2016:

2010: Spirit Airlines pilot strike was the most recent pilot strike and a successful Tentative Agreement was reached in just a few days. But today, Spirit's market share of the US airline market is just 2.6% overall and it was less in 2010. So the impact was limited.

2005: Polar Air Cargo pilots. Lasted 16 days and resulted in a successful Tentative Agreement. But Polar is just a subsidiary of the larger Atlas Air Worldwide and only operates 13 aircraft.

2001: Comair pilots. After 81 day strike, a Tentative Agreement was reached. Note: This strike occurred PRIOR to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 which led to furloughs and bankruptcies. While this was a major strike that primarily affected Delta's Cincinnati Ohio hub, Delta's overall operation continued to function. At the start of the strike, Comair operated only 119 smaller regional jet aircraft.

1997: American Airlines (pilots) went on strike for only a few minutes before President Clinton ordered them back to work while a specially-convened board resumed negotiations.

1997: UPS Strike (was not a pilot strike but shut down operations for 16 days).

1993: Alaskan Airlines (Flight Attendants) CHAOS strike, first successful use of Association of Flight Attendant's (AFA) tactic of having crewmembers randomly walk off the job to "Create Havoc Around Our System."

1993: American Airlines (Flight Attendants) strike for five days before President Clinton intervened and sent the negotiations to an arbitrator.

Overall, considering the amount of passengers carried by US airlines in the past 25 years, there has been VERY minimal disruption that has been allowed by the RLA, quite a change from the earlier days of the industry where labor had more muscle to exert pressure on management for contractual improvements. The balance of power has shifted substantially.

*My listing of references for this posting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_strikes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_Airlines
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings
Pilots, Delta unit Comair reach deal - Jun. 14, 2001
AMERICAN AIRLINE PILOTS STRIKE BUT CLINTON ORDERS THEM BACK - NYTimes.com
STRIKE AT AMERICAN AIRLINES - Airline Strike Ends as Clinton Steps In - NYTimes.com
Workers World Dec. 9, 2004: Flight attendants to airlines

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