Originally Posted by
ComeFlyWithMe
Yes I realize the above question is an invitation to flame me. And I will not dispute this. But I have an honest question and, as someone about to begin this career, I would like an honest answer.
Are unions to blame for the current state of pilot pay, QOL, and working conditions? Here is why I ask: After 9/11, when the major airlines were all losing money, they all went to the unions and begged for wage concessions. The unions, fearing massive layoffs, obliged, and the low pilot pay we say today is a reflection of the unions' judgement in that situation. I noticed that the people who WEREN'T asked to "make sacrifices" were the airlines' non-union employees. Not just executives, but everyone from the non-exec folks in the corporate office down to the baggage handlers. From my perspective, it looks like having a union is like having a spokesman yelling "cut my pay!," since it's easier to bully a single entity rather than a bunch of independant workers. Pilots used to make as much as engineers, architects, and lawyers. None of those groups are unionized, and as independant workers their employers can't cut all their pay in one fell swoop. It seems as though pilot pay has dropped because the unions legitimize the process of cutting pay. From what I've seen, only in a unionized workplace can management look every employee in the eye and tell them their pay is being cut.
What are your thoughts on this? I'd like to be enlightened here.
Unions are not really to blame for the downward spiral of pay over the last twenty years (not just since '9/11'). Each individual pilot who has voted, volunteered or acquiesced to lower pay, whether it be in conjunction with a unionized carrier, or who has just sold out the profession on his or her own, is responsible. This has been a continual slide down the drain since the mid-1980s.
The current state of ALPA and the other lap-dog pilot unions is a symptom, not the cause, of low pilot pay. Pilot pay is now low in all air carrier companies, whether the pilots are subject to collective bargaining or not.