Anyone who witnesses the dynamics of pilot politics quickly notices that there is little true Unity within the profession. In cases such as with Age 60, we frequently see both younger and “older” pilots accusing each other of greed and mutual insensitivity. The troubling part is that they are both correct. Due to a nearly total void in principled leadership and a failure to change our internal economic relationships with each other, we are now an every-pilot-for-himself profession that calls itself a “democracy.” John Adams said,

Democracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes.

This is exactly where we are and everybody knows it; so, let’s move on and fix it piece by piece. The truth is that we are subject to a grossly out-dated professional economic system that has forced us to be our own worst enemies. This system can easily be changed if pilots are willing to do it.

Seniority

There are a number of strategic policies that must be rethought if we are to ever get out from under the grip of the past. One is “seniority.” Our take on it is unique and destructive. Seniority, as we know it, worked reasonably well when airlines were regulated and non-competitive...but not now. Here is an excerpt from my article, “Learning to Compete Wisely, A Primer in Creating Natural Unity”:

…regardless of how pilots decide to reduce internal competition, their notion of seniority as an economic factor must be altered. Here is why:

In most of the labor world the term “seniority” essentially means “first hired, last fired.” Indeed, in some unionized environments, such as the National Football League, it has virtually no meaning; that is, if you are not good enough to make the team, it does not matter when you were hired. Similarly, in some electrical locals work is allocated on a “first-in, first-out” basis; again, seniority has limited and indirect economic implications. For almost all workers, seniority is a simple political concept that protects against managerial favoritism, and it works well.

However, in the non-competitive airline business where the high-cost leader ruled, “seniority,” especially in the pilot mind, morphed into a form of economic supremacy unknown elsewhere in the commercial world. It came to mean something like, “I got here first so I deserve overwhelming advantage in pay, vacation, working conditions, and everything else. But don’t worry ‘new-hire pilot,’ you will get here someday.” This attitude worked fine in the predictable airline world. But, in the highly competitive, high turnover, networked world, it does not. Many pilots will simply never “get there.” For pilots to use seniority to justify vast economic supremacy these days would be similar to a company using its date of incorporation to justify higher ticket prices. Just as consumers and competitors in the airline marketplace would ignore such a marketing strategy, so will “competing” pilots ultimately ignore seniority as a justification for vast differentials in their marketplace.

None of this is to suggest that everyone should get paid the same; it is to suggest that pilots would be wise to acknowledge that their current system is not rooted in economic reality and never has been. It is a contrived system and the “A, B, and C" pay scales…are proof of that. The test for pilots will be to abandon their cultural, seniority-driven sense of entitlement and create a version of their pay system that reduces intra-profession competition. Fortunately, for now, this process requires mostly a mental adjustment and not a need to reduce average career income. And, the upside for enhancing unity and negotiating strength is significant.”

There is no rational economic reason for creating such things such as A, B, and C pay scales which disadvantage junior pilots, and there is no rational reason for supporting an Age 60 rule that disadvantages the older pilots. Yet, we have these things because we have been short-sighted and failed to see the long-term effects on pilot unity.

Our problem is not individual, it is systemic. Pilots are right in claiming that we are greedy. They are wrong in believing that it cannot be fixed. We just need to focus on what works in this day and time, and forget about what used to work.

Bob