Originally Posted by Preacher
Or you could count your blessings and realize that you have one of the best jobs in America, work productively with management to weather the storms of economic cycles and survive. Has anyone ever approached management with a deferred compensation plan? Exchange a large portion of your income package in exchange for stock in the company. Become an airline owner rather than an airline employee. Align your interests with the interests of management. In fact, if you had sufficient stock, you could vote that stock as a group and hold management accountable.
Ummm...I think United pilots did that a few years ago...pretty sure their stock got flushed during Ch.11. I have always avoided the stock of my current employer (except options) so as not to have all the eggs in one bucket. I am however all for the pilot's unions acquiring one or two seats on their companies' BOD.
I have extensive real world corporate experience...if I had 20 days off a month at the airline that would be beat the real world hands down...but I really get 10 days off a month, and I'm gone the rest of the time...I lose another day to recovering from the inevitable redeye shift at the end of a trip, and another day or two commuting...now I have 7 days off. Most of which I spend doing chores and projects around the house that I couldn't do while gone. I have essentially zero time to pursue any of my own interests.
Many jobs which involve time away from home work 50% on / 50% off...this should really be the baseline standard in the airline industry.
I'm not into whining, I'm spending time here trying to educate and rally new and old pilots to arrest the downward slide. The AMA does a fabulous job of limiting production of new MDs & DOs to keep salaries high. If it's ethical to control the number of available cardiac surgeons, then it's certainly ethical for us to limit the supply of pilots. We do have mechanisms to do this...many PFT pilots are having difficulty moving on to the majors because of their background. The new folks need to be made aware that, rightly or wrongly, PFT are getting the blame for the industry slide...and that if they are doing this in hopes of getting a major airline job someday, they had better get a CFI and work their way up.