Originally Posted by
Flaps50
You can't negotiate with a public company as a private individual line pilot in todays world. Who would have invested the mega bucks to become an ATP with a future of 60K a year. Not me.
Because we've artificially raised the pay rates, more people learn to fly, flooding the market with supply. Had those pay rates never been inflated, less pilots would have entered the marketplace, therefore reducing supply, increasing demand, and increasing the wage. No need for unions to do so. You can bet they wouldn't be anywhere near $300k/yr though.
The argument is absurd. If you want to make that argument, I say get rid of the airline management skewed Railway Labor Act. Allow us to strike anytime a contract is infringed upon, and let's see where a true free market gets us when we can shutdown the country's travel anytime we want if we're not happy. Check the value then. Allow us to truly get together and negotiate as one complete entity of 70,000 people at once. Free means free, and guarantee you that when those planes are parked management will come knocking. Right now they can hide behind the RLA for years pitting one group against another as well as get the courts to abrogate contracts, and that is why wages have fallen in the airlines.
You entire paragraph validates my statement. Going on strike, negotiating as one entity, etc. does NOT mean you are operating under a free market. In fact, you have the company, and the public, at bay. Look at what the NYC subway workers (or was it bus drivers?) did - went on strike and got what they wanted because they exerted their leverage. That doesn't sound very capitalist or free market-ism to me.
I agree a union is a necessary evil in our line of work, but you really need to stop and think about it for a second. Skybus, jetBlue, Virgin America etc. reflect how the free market treats airline pilots these days.