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Old Dec 4, 2003, 2:10 am
  #8  
steve64
 
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Tucson, AZ USA
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Hi TransWorldOne,

I agree 100% with your comment about US citizens having the right to collective bargainig.

However; I feel pilots have an unfair advantage in the collective bargaining process. My previous post is only a few hours old yet I've already received 2 e-mails from folks in a similar situation as myself ...qualified to continue towards a career as a commercial airline pilot but blocked by whatever FAA regulation... and willing to fly those airplanes for less than the offer currently on the table to the current pilots. But some of those FAA regulations end up prohibiting an airline from replacing any striking pilots (if negotiations ever reached that point) with so called "scabs" as quickly as they could replace Flight attendants, Baggage Handlers, etc. They could hire a pilot whose is fully qualified on the Airbus 320, but would have to send him/her thru months of training before being legal to fly an HP A320 with paying passengers onboard. Pilots know this and take advantage of it. How many other typical union positions do the rank and file have this advantage in the collective bargaining process ? I feel this has elevated pilot salaries above what the "market" would normally dictate.

Again, no disrespect to those flying the airliners over the USA at whatever pay scale they're on. I do have a problem with pilots demanding huge increases just because that's what the pilots at XYZ Airlines get paid. Nobody forced you to accept the job at ABC Airlines at 50% of the pay offered at XYZ. That was your personal decision. (I'm talking very hypothetically here...) ABC's business model is much different than XYZ's. That's why they don't pay you as much. That's why they have a lower cost per seat mile than XYZ. That's why they have lower overall yield per seat mile than XYZ. All this on top of the fact that XYZ is a much larger carrier and has a larger passenger base. The day ABC has to match XYZ's cost is the day that ABC fails. If ABC had originally paid the same salary as XY Z then dropped it, I'd have a little more sympathy.

As it is, HP's 11% raise may still not bring their pilots up to the pay rates at the major carriers. But they never had that rate. If the HP pay rates aren't acceptable to an individual then they should never have accepted the job. But in relative terms, in today's environment, an 11% increase over the rate your current rate is generous since most other carriers are passing out pay cuts. I'll respect those pilot's right to bargain, but in this case I won't agree with them.

I personally got caught up in the American Airlines Pilot Union's (I think they're named Allied and not ALPA like the rest of the industry) fued over AA's purchase of Reno Air. I agreed with the pilot's 100% that AA buying those airplanes and having Reno crews fly them while paying Reno's lower wages, yet advertising the flights as "AA" was a violation of AA Pilot's scope clause. They had my support until they decided to drag the customer into the battle. Instead of filing a "breach of contract" type of suit against the company, they engaged in a sickout. This left me stranded in Frankfurt Germany for 2 days. Why the pilots decided to punish me, the customer (I was on a company paid Business Class ticket) is a mystery to me. If they wanted to hurt management by driving away customers, in my case it worked. I defected to Continental (I was DFW based at the time). Too bad for the pilots because (per my Quicken file) Continental has since earned over $32,000 that could've gone to AA and helped to pay its payroll.

To summarize my personal opinion:
I respect HP Pilots right to bargain. In today's environment I feel the current proposal (what little I know about it) is fair, even if it doesn't bring them up to the rates of other airlines. More power to the pilots in bargaining for what they think feel they deserve, but don't base that that desire simply on what the other guy gets; you don't work for his/her company. The day the pilots (or any work group) decides to drag me into negotiations via slowdowns, sickouts etc is the day they lose any support I may have had for them.

Steve

P.S. :
I worked for over 10 years as a non-union Passenger Service Agent for American. I was at a big disadvantge over being in the only non-union work group. I was also the one who had the customer screaming in my face while my "fellow" workers took what action (legal or not) that they felt was needed to support their negotiations. So I've been on all 3 sides of the fence:
1) non-union employee taken advantage of by management
2) employee affected by union job actions
3) customer affected by union job actions

P.S.S. :
I've long ago left AA. My non-union pay didn't match the lifestyle I wanted to live nor what I could make for a similar position elsewhere. I didn't drag AA's passengers into my discontent; I took it into my own hands and found a similar job paying 14K per year more. I do feel it was AA's loss; I don't care wether or not they agree.

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