Originally Posted by BeatNavy

You’re missing a really big part of why unions are necessary for airlines. In every other profession, your skills and experience go with you. If company X isn’t paying you enough, you can go to company Y and you can start at or above your current pay and position. In the airline world, if after 5 or 10 years working at airline x, they aren’t paying enough, you can’t go to your same seat/longevity at airline Y. You are beneath even the most junior guy who started there before you. That, coupled with being held under the RLA which absolutely handcuffs us and works in management’s favor, requires unions to be able to negotiate and improve pay/QOL and fight to improve things where you are. Free market forces can’t work in the airline pilot world. Without union support, companies have a huge advantage on an uneven playing field.