Our first year pay is an abomination. Our competitive applicants are in their 40s with decades of experience. Yes, the pay and benefits after year one are outstanding, but we miss out on guys who can simply go to FedEx, Delta, United, etc and never take that financial hit. For someone in their twenties or even early thirties, the financial hit is less because they are probably not accustomed to a higher income level and have fewer obligations. For our average new hire, they have families to care for and typically are accustomed to a low six figure income level. It’s tough and takes a lot of discipline and sacrifice to shoehorn their family into a $50k budget.

All that said, I still see first year pay as a recruiting challenge for the company to solve. The IPA is perfectly willing to amend the contract to allow a higher pay scale for new hires, but we shouldn’t “give” anything in exchange.