So I started a thread here asking what folks thought a pilot was worth and the mods moved it to Hangar Talk which I find to be incredibly interesting as this is a PilotPay forum but I feel that the thread was buried.

So the question is what's a MAJOR airline pilot worth?

Joe Peck

UAL IADFO-75/76

 

About fifty percent of what they had a decade ago

 

Whatever they negotiate.

 

A lot more than what they are here in the US... it's incredible how low the pay is in the US.

 

The pay could be so much higher, as soon as we get rid of competition and go to a national airline like most foreign carriers. Oh then the pay will be awesome.

I'm all for a national carrier. As long as it's Delta.

 

What I always aksed myself, why aren't US pilots stirking? Are they somehow by law forbidden to strike? (I know striking is a hard thing to do, but it works perfectly at LH and other jobfields, especially in Germany )

 

And how low the cost of living is comparitively, as well as the value of our currency.

 

Three words; "Railway Labor Act".

Airline industry employees, along with railroad employees fall under the Railway labor Act and are not allowed by law to strike unless they are allowed to do so by a federal bureaucracy called the National Mediation Board.

Recent precedent, allows airlines to declare bankruptcy, go to court, have labor agreements thrown out and then another federal court will jump in and prevent workers from striking after their contracts are thrown out.

Additionally, while in bankruptcy, federal courts can terminate employee pension plans, while other federal courts, once again, prevent employees from striking.

Pathetic!

 

Funny you should ask.

I was just looking at a textbook... Intro To Economics.

It goes through a few definitions (cost vs value vs worth, etc) and by page 3 they start with the first lesson: What is worth more, a diamond or a glass of water?

Then they go into the discussion of a guy in the desert and how he would gladly trade diamonds for a glass of water. I guess anyone in the world can relate to diamonds, water, deserts, and thirst.

Reading on to page 5, they go into the second lesson: How much is a 747 Captain worth? (I swear I'm not making this up!)

This discussion goes along the lines of all the training, experience, the lifetime of preparation, a clean record, incredible responsibility, long hours away from home, and so on. So is a 747 pilot worth 300,000 a year? Yes, they reason, as long as there are only so many available.

However, they go on to point out that if there is a surplus of qualified persons to fly 747s, then the "value" of a 747 Captain drops rapidly. Thus ends the second lesson in the economics textbook.

Honest to God... the first two examples in an economics textbook are a rich man dying in the desert and a bunch of 747 pilots that think they're worth more than the market will support.

I didn't read any more after that.

 

Sorry for hijacking this thread but, why did they pass this law? Were they scared of if they strike the whole transportation system would collapse? Are bus driver included in this law? For me it makes no sense to forbid them to strike.