Originally Posted by skywatch
That is an interesting observation. People always complain that management treats them like a number and not an individual - and yet, the union itself insists on using a system where the only thing that is allowed to determine your value is your date of hire. People complain that management de-humanizes them, and yet the system the union insists on following seems to take any/and all individual value away from the employee outside of his hire date. Interesting.
Agreed. It does make one think.
Originally Posted by flynavyj
Any most other professional fields, your resume and experience gets you the opportunity to negotiate a pay rate that you and the company feel is adequate. Here, they don't, and as long as you can't, no company is going to fight over getting an employee, you're just another toothpick in the box.
The unions do lump all pilots into one basket when it comes to hiring; everyone's the same skill-wise. You can never tell your employer "you can't fire me, my experience is valuable to this company," because to them your are just pilot #7845. The system seems very dehumanizing. This is what keeps professionals from getting screwed pay-wise: they know how to market themselves. In the case of lawyers, pharmacists, accountants, etc., they market their skills individually and get paid for it. BUT If their company goes belly-up, they're SOL. The question is whether it is better to be SOL and unemployed, or employed at reduced pay. I think SOL is better in the long term because it's easier to get another job than it is to raise pay after it has been lowered. Few people are permanently unemployed. Times are tough, but I'd rather they be tough temporarily than permanently.
I see unions as a double-edged sword. They can protect you from management abuse, but they can get annoying as well. The "seniority system" prevents ass-kissing brownnosers from getting ahead on their stupid charm, but it also can be problematic in the case of mergers. The dehumanizing system of employment seems silly, but employees are given the choice to determine their own situation in times of crisis as opposed to being fired outright.
Originally Posted by 1forflying
Unions have fought for years to increase safety and to provide relief to workers who would have been forced to fly aircraft that otherwise would have been grounded for damage.
A great example of the good a good union can do, and a reason why I am not anti-union. But I feel some unions (like the teachers' union) have abused their power, while others have given theirs completely away. Unions have a time and a place, the question is finding out where and when.