Originally Posted by
Qotsaautopilot
Are you telling me a 787 FO making $5k a month pretax is living comfortably. That's impossible with a family.
I'm not talking about living comfortably anyway. I'm talking about getting rich. This job requires far to much training, travel away from home, and most importantly responsibility to have FOs that can't get by and captains that are just "comfortable". Why sell yourself short? The contract pilot scheme has taken away any leverage European pilots would have as group to make some real money. If it weren't for the paycheck I don't think most of us would come to work. So my goal is to make as much of it as humanly possible when I am at work. Anything that threatens to have me making less is the enemy.
If NAI came in here with industry leading wages, retirement, and work rules along with actual employees not outscourced labor with no bargaining power, I don't think anyone would have an issue. Problem is the whole scheme designed to push down wages and strip labor of any power. That's a problem.
I hear ya man, but your position is on the wrong end of the traveling public, which outvotes you. You need to tone down the money umbrage. To paraphrase A Few Good Men: "It's doesn't matter what I believe, it only matters what I can prove". In this case, what you can leverage and negotiate for.
The assertion comes off as disconnected and entitled, in a country of 320 Million people with a household income median of 60K and DECREASING not even as a function of inflation adjustment, but decreasing in gross value. Getting in front of the street and wanking about the loss of 300K income bracket attainment is not gonna get you anywhere. Society will call your bluff and right ricky tick. "Bye Felicia" kind of thing.
I would keep the income motivation canard to myself if I was advocating for US domestic pilot jobs. Use the safety and carnage angle, because if you go for the "income necessary to keep me interested", a Country chock full of poor people will call your bluff every day of the week and twice on Sunday. They buy that from healthcare providers, they'll never see you in the same light. Don't shoot the messenger, and I happen to agree with you that the math doesn't pencil out for 120k top out as a NB CA. That money is not worth it to me either for an onerously-traveling occupation. Sim building work maybe, but not with the kind of round-the-clock TAFB generally associated with airline work.