Originally Posted by
⌐ AV8OR WANNABE
Do you not see how that is bringing down your wages and value as an airline pilot?
No, I don’t see that at all…
Your loss, buddy.
For example, what's better for you, a 40% paycut, or 80% paycut if you have to start over?
So you are saying I should plan my professional life on other ‘more experienced’ pilots (aka my boss’ buddies) sneaking in front of me just because that’s the right thing to do, right?
Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. When you are the most qualified individual around, you get your chance. If you don't like how it is, the ability to leave and go someplace where you will be given more advancement opportunity is absolutely PRICELESS. That is something you do not have right now and you seem incapable of comprehending the concept. Understandable from someone working exclusively in a union environment.
The management can port their "skills" and rape and pillage various airlines, and leave you holding a bag because you're restricted by "seniority" and NOTHING ELSE matters to you. Because of that mentality... you are a number, you are a liability, you're a union monkey...
Ok, one could also argue that because of the way you think you must be the management’s monkey…
Actually, I'm just another corporate pilot who saw the light and left the 121 world in the dust.
Here's another reason - union pilots forget it's about people/cargo, etc. I'm one of those who says that "EXPERIENCE" and not seniority should control many aspects - pay being one of the most important ones. If you are a 2000 hour RJ pilot... I'm sorry, but if Sully comes to your airline, THE CUSTOMER, be it passenger or cargo or VIP, deserves the best qualified pilot being in charge. Do you think you serve customer needs the best with a seniority system that's built entirely around the date of hire? I don't. Here's another one - personal experience.
Several years flying Boeings, regional captain before that.... my airline goes under. Should I fly for 20k again? I'm sorry... I value my professional worth a little more than that, and as a result, I get paid appropriately for my experience, not for my date of hire.
Absolutely! Apparently your experience didn’t help you in deciding which airline had the highest probability of survival… You took a gamble and now you want others to pay for your mistake? Don’t think so…
Tomorrow my airline might be next on the chopping blocks but I won’t expect to be hired ahead of others at my ‘new’ airline just because I made the wrong choice in the past...
Exactly, tomorrow your airline might be on the chopping block, and that's why I want your experience to count for something if it does or if you choose to leave your airline. It's called leverage... works great. Trust me!
When I was hired by my 'career' airline, it was healthy, ordering new airplanes, announcing new routes, etc. Funny how things change...
I don't want you to PAY for my "mistake." I want you to LEARN from my "mistake." Again, you don't seem to value your experience very much, and that's unfortunate. On the other hand, I value mine... and call me elitist if you want, but I value my experience much higher than the first year pay at any airline.
I didn't and don't have to kiss anyone's butt. I negotiated my contract, and I take pride in being a PROFESSIONAL and getting paid as one.
Ok, so you want 3,000, or better yet 12,0000 pilots (Delta) to individually negotiate their salaries? Wow, that’ll take some time…
Not necessarily, but I want them to be able to make a livable wage should Delta ever, God forbid, tank, or they choose to leave. Again, it's called having leverage, which union pilots simply don't have. I want them to be paid in accordance with their TOTAL experience, not their DATE OF HIRE.... make sense?
As a union pilot, how can you demand to be treated like a professional when you're just a number whose worth is determined not by experience or some other measurement, but only by date of hire? In other words... why should anyone pay you or treat you like a professional when you, yourself, don't treat or regard yourself or your peers as professionals in a true sense?
The difference between you and I is that you actually believe in what the management tells you…
Guilty as charged. What can I say... when my salary gets deposited and it's correct; when my working conditions are just as they're spelled out in my contract; when I am treated like a professional that I know I am... I guess you can say that I do believe in what "the management" tells me.
The real difference between you and I is that you actually believe in what your UNION tells you. I just know better...