Originally Posted by
Visconti
I'm not readywhenyouare, but I think I know what he's getting at here.
In my view, if these DL pilots weren't unionized the odds of every pilot walking out is close to zero. While some may for whatever reason, others will remain, if only because they rely on the source of income which can't be easily replaced elsewhere. DL can then try to hire other pilots to fill the openings and hope these "scabs" can bridge the gap until a more permanent labor solution is found. Of course, during these times and given the apparent pilot shortages, such a strategy may not be practical or feasible, which is why I suspect it's a good time to threaten a strike.
Personally, I don't like unions either--as a consumer they drive up my price per unit, inconvenience me and chip away at my piece of the pie as a shareholder. This of course doesn't mean I don't believe in labor's right to form a union, I do. I just view this as cost of doing business, where these DL pilots have an opportunity to leverage some concessions from the C-Suite. It would be irrational not to do so, because if the shoe were on the other foot, you can bet the C-Suite will be squeezing them.
The airline industry is cyclical. For me, I'd rather have a steady and predictable salary throughout my career than these peaks and valleys. As it is now, you can expect to be paid like royalty during the good times and in the bad times you'll be lucky to not be furloughed for years.
I'm just using these numbers as an example. Maybe you make $400,000/year for six years but then get furloughed with no income for three years in a recession. I'd rather have a $200,000 steady income and not need such drastic hits during low times. And that would keep more pilots from being furloughed as well.
Not to mention that it seems today's pilots are not looking at the past. The flight engineer is gone, the navigator is gone, and the radio operator is gone. All replaced by automated systems. If they keep driving labor costs up it will only lead to faster adoption of single pilot operations and ultimately fully autonomous planes. Airbus has already demonstrated the A350 could be the flown single pilot in the future. Those who claim it can never happen are kidding themselves.