No pilot groups are striking, presently. There have been several votes among pilot groups for strike approvals. That means that should contract negotiations arrive at such an impasse that a strike is warranted, the pilot body has already voiced their majority approval for the union to seek permission to strike.

A strike is a job action which requires approval, and a formal process is required for a union to get to that point. Well before arriving at a place that a strike occurs, the pilots must approve that action as well, and a vote is taken among the pilots to determine if an adequate number are in favor and supportive of striking.

A strike vote also sends a message: it's a strong signal not only from negotiators, but from the ground shop floor, that those doing the job support walking off that job if it comes down to it. There are many ways unity is shown, from wearing lanyards to picketing, but a strike vote is a very loud message from the entire shop workforce to management, and it's a tool useful for the negotiators (we have the vote and we're prepared to use it).

As to why a pilot group would vote to approve a strike; negotiations between a company management and the union are seldom a smooth process, and seldom a quick one. Negotiations take place either at the start of an initial (first time) contract between a union and the company, or periodically when a contract becomes available for negotiation (every five years, for example). At that time, issues that have been observed in the past that need to be re-visited are negotiated, such as cost of living increases (wages), changes in working conditions or the fleet or the industry, etc. There is a lot of detail to a contract, or there should be; each detail must be visited and agreed upon for a contract to move forward, and there may come a point when not only do discussions stall, but the company may refuse to move forward. There comes a point when the option to strike (if you won't work with us, we won't work with you) becomes a real thing. It's a big thing, and under the law and regulations that cover these labor relations (railway labor act, etc), there are very specific steps that must be taken to arrive at a strike. One of those steps will be a vote to show a willingness to strike, should it come to that, and it's what you're seeing just lately from American Airlines, FedEx, etc. This does not mean they will strike, but it reflects a willingness to do so.

For those jumping on plabelover, it's true that as a poster he spends a lot of his time posting "above his paygrade:" he's a student pilot who asks a lot of questions more appropriate to someone who is working in the industry. Some have rightfully directed him to focus on his flight training, but it does raise the question, at what point should one start learning the industry?

Today, movement to legacy seats and Airbus/Boeing aircraft is lightning fast, compared to not so many years ago (it took me fifteen years to get into something with turbine engines)...times, they are a'changing. With that in mind, One can very quickly be catapulted into the big-boy chair with very little in the rear view mirror (no experience, no background), and it may be wise to ask as many questions prior to arriving in that seat, or making decisions about applying for that seat, or charting one's meteoric rise in the industry, as early as possible.

One doesn't actually need to be a major airline pilot to ask questions about major airlines. Personally, I'd much rather see someone who is starting out be proactive in their research. We all had our ways. Rather than try to find ways to rip him apart, why not simply answer his question?

Guess they shouldn’t have gotten that gender studies degree then.

Thank you for the books! I wasn’t talking down about anyone and if that’s how it came across as I apologize for that, I definitely appreciate the flights the pilots are taking now to make the industry better for the new upcoming pilots I just wanted to know the reasons behind fighting those fights, I don’t know anyone that was in the industry during the glory days all I have been hearing that now is a great time to become a pilot but on the other hand I see pilots going on strikes and saying that x company is better than company y, I didn’t know that contracts play a major role in that

Thank you for your response! I have been a lot questions that a student wouldn’t be asking at this stage but I want to know as much info as I can about the industry I will be getting and hopefully retiring at, I want to make sure I make sort of the right choice going in to the industry even tho I know by the time I have my 1500 A LOT I will change. I’m extremely grateful for all the info I have learned from the forms about different different topics for example if I want to get to Legacy X I try to avoid going to a WO that feeds to the legacy

Hey lover of plabes… in all seriousness read “Hard Landings” as referenced above… should be mandatory reading for any pilot, rich with history (ever wondered why pilots wear stripes like a naval officer) by a good storyteller!

if you really need to look further it’s because being a pilot was always a fairly prestigious career. Pilot made many concessions in the past qol and pay wise just for the opportunity to have a long career with a particular life style. The market has changed from company centric to pilot centric. Pilots have the upper hand and no longer need to give up those concessions. As far as making $90/hr that very recently happened for regionals. How would you feel as a mainline pilot who put 8-10 year in already and are now making as much as someone who is in their first year? It’s also about how many pilots haven’t seen a raise since 2016/18 when their last contract expired. They were set to get new ones and Covid paused all that because all the sudden as a pilot you were lucky to still have a job.

We are noT doing this for upcoming pilots. We are doing this for the entire livelihood of the piloting profession.

Thousands of us struggled for many years to get to where we are now, with paths paved by predecessors.

You have an opportunity now that hasn’t been seen pretty much ever. You wanted an easy way—well you have it the easiest it’s ever been.

Just do yourself a favor—adopt the attitude that there are no shortcuts and the proper dues will be paid one way or another.

When you're a student pilot paying out the ass to get a single hour, getting paid 90k a year sounds like a dream. When you have 11 years of your life invested and went to the ends of the earth to land that job, 90k seems like barely enough to survive (in some of the domiciles they'll put you in). Yes we're lucky our job isn't soul-sucking, but the dedication and near fanaticism and liability it can require of you warrants the salary. Also, imagine taking successive pay cuts in order to advance in the long term. I had 4000 hours making 36/hr, for example, and this was just over a year ago. The promised land is always two or three years away somehow. You will see.

This is what happens when government runs the education system, and the currency.

That's not how pay works in the airline industry. You can't compare hourly rate of a full time job to hourly rate of an airline pilot. Two totally different things that are paid much differently.