Originally Posted by
newKnow
Alfa,
It's not that difficult of a question. $5,000 per hour for a DC-9 FO on reserve at 70 hours per month puts him at $350,000 per month and $4.2 million per year.
We wouldn't be justified in asking for that much because historically pilots wages have never commanded that amount of buying power and and it would be an exponential jump over what we have had in the past.
In essence, I've always heard that back in the 1970's a captain could buy a car with one months check. I've never heard that his first officer could buy a house/mansion with one months check.
As professionals, we should always move our pay and benefits forward, not backwards.
To run a counter to your argument, maybe you could explain to us why $50 per hour for a B-747-400 captain would be too low of a pay rate in your mind?
If we cut to the chase and eliminate the extreme examples, it comes down to the historical buying power of us, as pilots. Our buying power has been severely cut over the decades, especially this last one.
Now if you want to explain to me why we should accept this decrease in buying power, that's the discussion I'll be looking forward to. 
New K Now
I'll take a shot at it. The bold parts show you committing a major philosophical fallacy. Historical buying power has absolutely zero relevance to today's conditions. What we earn and what we can negotiate for are solely determined by the marketplace. Those conditions change, sometimes temporarily sometimes permanently. What we commanded in the market back in the 70s, while nice for nostalgic reasons, you can't take that to the negotiating table.
George Will likes to use the analogy of the buggy whip makers when talking about the labor market. I'm sure those guys once commanded a high price in the market but where are they now?
The market is shaped by millions of forces, Adam Smith's invisible hand theory. We as individuals have very little effect on it. We, as a unified group with political clout, can affect the market on the margins. That' where ALPA proves its value. The new ATP requirements have the potential to shape the market in our favor in the short term. Unfortunately, as I have previously stated, the long term trends are not in our favor. Grasping at the straws of the past, I fear, can only accelerate our demise.