Originally Posted by
Airbum
Ok, I think I understand the position. I will say I agree the issues with first year to second year pay are stated well by Salty, I think the IPA would soon have 2 year union members stating that there is a B scale for second year pilots and they would resent it. They would have no corporate knowledge of why they get paid a lower percentage at year two then the rest of the IPA pilots received in year two longevity.
The pay slope was rather large for years 1-6 before the 2006 contract and a MUCH contentious issue with lower longevity members. It was often stated that there was a hidden B scale that didn't go away till year 7.
I am all for increasing first year pay and don't need new hires to earn what I did as a new hire. The trick as always is how and how to avoid future issues.
Having only been off first year pay for a few months, I agree it’s stupid low. However, I see this as the company’s problem, not the IPA’s. Low first year pay definitely hurts hiring quality and may hurt retention. I came here for the high pay (starting 2nd year) and great retirement, vacation, health insurance, etc. First year pay is an unproductive hazing of new guys that management seems unable to give up. If I were management I’d set first year pay at a similar premium to how our overall scale is set. The already long line of applicants would grow substantially in every metric management should care about.