Originally Posted by TravellingChris

The arguments that the pilots' union is making are a little silly. For one thing, the pilots are comparing themselves to pilots at the four largest U.S. airlines. This makes little sense, given that A) none of the U.S. airlines operate domestically within Canada, so it's a completely different market, B) Southwest, the third largest U.S. airline, isn't a competitor of Air Canada at all, given that it doesn't fly any transborder routes, and C) the United States is a completely different country with different laws, tax systems and aviation policies---not to mention the fact that it is ten times the size of Canada in terms of population. The largest U.S. airlines are all significantly larger than Air Canada.

Pilot union spokesperson Charlene Hudy reached the height of ludicrousness when she compared AC pilots to UA pilots, stating to CBC that "We all fly passengers under the Star Alliance. So we're flying the same passengers in the same airspace on some of the very same routes, and those pilots are being compensated dramatically more than us," If that's the standard, are AC pilots going to demand that contracts and workplace regulations match those of Lufthansa, given that both AC and LH are part of the Star Alliance and both fly between Canada and Germany? Will AC pilots demand to be paid the same wages and have identical benefits to those at Emirates, which is another partner of AC and like AC also flies between Canada and the UAE?

Yes, you can argue that pilots could leave AC and go work for higher wages at a U.S. or foreign carrier. But regardless of salaries, there will always be advantages in switching to a competing employer in another country, in an industry like aviation (or medicine) where experienced people are in high demand internationally. Even if AC matches pilot wages to those earned by pilots in other countries, there will be other advantages (e.g. lower taxes in the U.S.) which can't and won't be replicated here.