rjlavender

The following is a posting to the public record as well as an open letter to newly-elected block rep, VL. The above quote from another thread that I think fits in here nicely:

20 January 2008

Vic,

It was good to meet you the other day. I have to say that I am a fan of anyone who can write a clear message. It is a rare talent among pilots.

Do I agree with your writings? Yes, what I have seen so far.

Are your ideas achievable? Likely not, unless there is a massive change in how pilots value themselves internally.

I recently learned that ALPA national has created a committee to try to deal with the devastating affects of pilot mergers on pilot unity. The chairman of the committee is FedEx pilot, MA. While M is one of the nicest people on earth, his committee has no chance to succeed. This is because pilots value pilots far differently than executives value pilots. While executives value pilots using a rational economic model, including the law of supply and demand and scarcity, pilots value each other using a seniority-driven model for which there is no economic basis.

The affect of using seniority in the traditional pilot way is that pilot compensation and working conditions have remained remarkably skewed to the benefit of the most "senior" pilots, even when by all reasonable economic standards it is unjustifiable. Nowhere else in the labor force will you see such a wide range of salaries and working conditions among people with similar skills as you do with pilots. If the electricians in California were to adopt a system where people were paid incredibly different hourly wages based solely on when they were hired, you would see an immediate rise in internal competition directed at getting rid of the most "senior" electricians so that the junior ones could move up and assume their positions. Such a "system," obviously, is never-ending. The shooters of today are the targets of tomorrow, and that is the pilot dilemma now.

Ironically, the desire of many "junior" pilots to retain the Age 60 rule has nothing to do with age. It has only to do with the desire to gain a better lifestyle. Age is coincidental. If, by chance, the top 1000 pilots at FedEx happened to be 40 years old, and the bottom 1000 were 50, the same pressure would exist among the juniors to throw the bums at the top out in order to move up the list. While there is a significant difference in skill level between a master electrician and a journeyman (thus, making some differential in pay justifiable and sustainable), today's junior pilots are junior in name only. They possess all of the underlying skills and ratings to do the job of the most senior pilot. Anyone who does not believe this needs to go on strike and watch as the junior pilots flood into the "senior" positions with no trouble (and with no resistance from the FAA) whatsoever. This is why pilots have not represented a credible strike threat to management for years (even when losing their pensions).

There is nothing wrong with using seniority for its intended political purpose, that is, protecting against management favoritism. As a political system (first-hired, last-fired), it is great. But to use it to justify wage differentials is foolish. "Longevity" can be used to some extent to help determine wages because longevity goes to experience, but seniority does not.

Here is a comparative example of what is going on with pilots and executives:

About 10-15 years ago, there was a middle-management housecleaning in America that we had never seen before. The compensation levels of many managers had risen to high levels simply because they had been there for a long time, not because they were better than their newly-hired MBA counterparts. Not only had they been there a long time but so had their bosses and their bosses' bosses---the system was running on sheer "tradition." Then, with leveraged buyouts, mergers, and acquisitions, new bosses came in and said to the managers, "Either work for less or we will get someone else." When they refused to take cuts, the executives quickly replaced them with more newly-graduated MBAs who were willing to hire on at half the cost...literally. In an attempt to avoid the cuts, middle-managers argued that they were "the most experienced" and that the sky would fall without them. These arguments were ignored because they were not true. They believed it, but no one else did. It was all an illusion that they had created for themselves by relying on their traditional viewpoints. Executives valued the middle-managers far differently than the middle-managers valued themselves.

By not "balancing" compensation over the last thirty years according to the law of supply and demand, pilots have got themselves into the same situation as the middle-managers. While pilots rely on the illusion that "seniority" is a reliable factor in determining wage differentials, executives could not care less. All they know is that there are skilled pilots out there working for less money and under far worse conditions than the senior pilots, and that these pilots will be happy to move up and take the senior positions at the drop of a hat. In most cases, management does not have to go far to find them. They are right there on the company seniority list.

Underneath it all, even the pilots know what is going on---they will walk over each other in a heartbeat to take each other's jobs because that is where the financial incentives lie. Until the incentives are dramatically modified to cause a common financial perspective, all the talk about improving mergers, better retirement protection, disputed pairings, using professional negotiators, and "better communications" is fiddling while Rome is burning. Better communications are useless until you have something better to communicate. Yeah! It's a great idea to protect our retirement plan. But, sorry! We don't have the muscle to do it.

As long as every single seniority number is important to pilots, the "merger problem" will not be solved. Thirty years of experience and failure cannot be wrong. Anyone who does not believe this needs to talk to the Green Book pilots at NWA. Twenty years later, they are still at each other. Likewise, anyone at FedEx who believes that we can muster the clout needed to help ourselves while the skilled junior pilots feel that their treatment is unfair, is wrong. Our system must be reworked to make things fair to all, or those who feel disenfranchised will continue to try to "merge" themselves into the top of the list. As long as the financial incentives exist, there is no way to stop it. Whether pilots are flying Disputed Pairings or seeking to get rid of the 60 year olds, pilots are taking care of themselves because no one else will.

You have not asked for it, but my advice is to forget about everything except to rework our system of compensation for the purpose of creating Fairness, which is the underlying basis for Unity. This whole matter is now bigger than you, me, ALPA, and our profession. It will require outside help.

In my opinion, every pilots needs to come to grips with two concluding facts:

1. From the executive viewpoint, no pilot is paid on the basis of responsibility, experience, or the size and speed of aircraft. In fact, management does not even weigh these things. They are pilot-created illusions. Pilots are paid only according to the law of supply and demand and what they have the leverage to negotiate; and,

2. Management does not care how the dollars are allocated, only how many dollars are allocated. We can divvy up the dollars and working conditions to our hearts content to either create or diminish unity.

In other words, we have control over our own internal levels of support and solidarity. If we continue to leave the door open to exploitation by management, it is no fault but our own.

Sincerely,

Bob

FlynLow

Blah Blah Blah

You are writing to block reps and talking about ALPA this and that and pay dues, I want to know can kind of things you are taking that are making you so delusional....

Pay to play, or go home...no one cares...

hamfisted

Bob,
Do you really think anyone in ALPA listens to you? While some of your points may be valid, you have ZERO credibility in any matters involving ALPA. I don't care how many times you have been furloughed or been on strike. There's alot of us who have been through other carriers' bad times so your personal history gets you no bonus points from your audience.
You don't want to be a member, you don't pay dues and you do not have the ability or desire to roll up your sleeves and provide your...ahem...expertise to your fellow pilots since you refuse to belong to the Union. Do you not realize you are simply wasting everybody's time acting like the airline pilot's oracle?
Do us all a favor, join the Union or go away.

FR8Hauler

Bob, if you paid your dues like everyone else, someone might give a $@#% what you have to say.

Micro

Bob, Seeing that you seem to be so insightful about management, why don't you stop with your "advice" to us and see if you can go to management and join the team of PC and JL. I'm sure they'll get right on your ideas.

seefive

Give it up. No one likes your babble on here. It's pathetic. As are you until you start pulling your weight.

Laughing_Jakal

The only reason he posts here is because he can see it go "up" after he posts it. Must be more satisfying to see that people respond....particularly more so than if he mailed it to some uninterested party.

"Gee, I know I asked for a return receipt, but I never got a response....something must be wrong"

At least this way, he can see someone actually read it. To him, even negative feedback is better than none. So I have added to his level of satisfaction today....by writing this.

For now on, we need to not respond, and let this drivel trickle off the bottom of the forum listing with no responses and no views.
This is the virtual equivalent of shredding the pre-approved credit card offer without opening the envelope.....because it's not worth any more perusal.

HazCan

Bob, I started to read your post. Then I scrolled back up and noticed it was you who wrote it. I immediately quit reading. Any satisfaction that you think you get from guys reading your drivel is false. No one even makes it through it once they realize it's you. You are a leach and a user and completely useless to the rest of us. Write a check or shut your trap.

HAZ

jagplt

not interested....

pay dues... then you can become the comm chair.

key point... PAY YOUR DUES...otherwise you're just a guy outside throwing rocks.

j

MaydayMark

NMB (Non-Member-Bob),

I'll bet you're one of those guys that goes into the department store men's changing room and yells,

"Hey, there's no toilet paper in here!"

Or when an announcement came over the loud speaker, you assume a fetal position and scream "OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN !"

Or ... While handling guns in the hunting department, you ask the clerk where the antidepressants are.