All Airline Pilots MUST READ

[dualrated]

Unbelievable.

The biggest threat to the profession of airline pilot since Frank Lorenzo is looming on the horizon and all we can talk about is PFT.

There are no bills before Congress to mandate PFT!

If the McCain bill passes, you'll never see another pay-raise (except for cost-of-living), and you'll always be looking over your shoulder, waiting for the next Gulfstream to replace your flying.

Prodigal-- Maybe you're right and I just don't get it. Please explain to me the market forces that will allow me to seek and secure a pay-raise with the McCain as law? You have read it, right?

 

[prodigal]

I'm not saying that there are any such provisions. And I'm not arguing directly for or against this bill. Rather I'm simply making an empirical observation, namely, that attempts to control the market, or to isolate an industry from market forces are, will in the long run fail.

 

[B737G]

JetPilot500, I totally agree the us against them mentality has got to go. I am only 31 years of age and am already tired of the poor working relationship I have experienced between management and labor. There is a reason for this mindset and it starts at the top/CEO. If todays executives would treat pilots like the assets they are and not simply like a tool to generate revenue that is disposable, the working relationship just might improve. The executives get paid the big bucks to lead and I see very little leadership. SWA is significantly more unionized than my airline/DAL and yet, the relationship between employees and management is significantly better. When executives learn how to treat employees with respect and honesty the shareholders will in turn see the value of their investment. Whether you agree or disagree with ALPA you cannot deny that S1327 stinks of socialism. Republicans are supposedly for capitalism, free markets and less government and yet this bill dictates an American workers pay, retirement, work rules and quality of life. Sounds like socialism to me. What is next? Limit physicians salaries so the 42 million Americans without healthcare can afford it? This does not sound like the sort of society that I have been willing to fight and die for.

 

[dualrated]

attempts to control the market, or to isolate an industry from market forces are, will in the long run fail.

It took over 70 years for these attempts to fail in the Soviet Union. I can't wait that long.

Let me get this straight...you agree that trying to manipulate a market is doomed to failure, but you don't oppose this bill to control the airline labor market? You're right...I don't get it.

 

[active_herk]

I've got an idea. Lets say that S1327 does pass. Why don't we propose that it not only apply to the pilots, but to management as well? I'm sure the CEOs of the airline industry wouldn't mind having an arbitrator decide what their pay and benefits should be as well as ours.

 

[goldentrout]

This is going to be unpopular, but...

We have done this to ourselves.

Here's part of the bill

"(B) The financial condition of the air carrier and its ability to incur changes in labor costs while continuing to maintain its competitive market position, pay its debts, meet its other contractual obligations, provide job security and equivalent treatment for all of its employees, and return a reasonable profit, consistent with historic margins and rates of return, for its shareholders."

Unions (including ALPA) in this country have gotten to the point where their primary concern is not the long term financial viability of a company. Rather, it's a greed that holds companies hostage under the threat of a devastating strike.

Kit Darby even admitted as much at an Air Inc conference, "Unions try to get as much as they can in the good times, give back as little as possible in the bad times."

Does ALPA (or the mechanics' union, or the FA union) even consider this provision "B" above in contract negotations? With all the major carriers in the toilet and losing billions, I think not.

Bankruptcy happened at US Air...and it's a real possibility at UAL.
What the heck are ALPA and the other employee unions thinking? AMR (non-ALPA, but still...) lost almost 1 billion last quarter (924,000,000 to be exact). And all the unions say is "its managment's fault."

DAL/UAL got their contracts at the tail end of the last economic boom. Did ALPA and the other employee unions give any thought as to how the company was supposed to pay their bills during an economic slowdown?

Obviously not...we'll just sacrifice the bottom 20% or so of the seniority list, send the company to near bankruptcy, toss thousands of the company's employees on the street, to "preserve the profession."

Greed defined in the dictionary-- "an excessive desire to acquire or possess, as wealth or power, beyond what one needs or deserves."

Much like the long shore workers, when we strike, it can have a devastating effect on the economy.

And what do what do we strike for?

1. To make $25,000/month instead of $22,000/month, while only working 12 days or so a month.

2. Work rules that say if my vacation touches a trip, I'm displaced with no loss in pay. (I know guys at UAL who make over $20,000/ month a couple times year to not work at all, by bidding vacation that touches their trips.)

3. To have a double company fundedretirement plan? Why do we need a guaranteed A benefit funded by the company after we retire, and then a "B" benefit, funded by the company? Maybe it's becasue ALPA doesn't really care about the financially viability of the company...so they need a B fund just in case. With the money we make, shouldn't we be responsible for some of our own retirement?

ALPA is no longer "defending the poor, tired, over tasked laborer against the capitalist industrialists."

Most of us work less than half the month, at a job that's just not that tough, and our wages and benefits are better than just about any industry in America.

By being greedy, we have brought this on ourselves.

 

[SDF2BUF2MCO]

GT, I am not even qualified to respond to the original thread but here are some rambling thoughts to consider:
It is being presumptuous that had lower labor cost been negotiated the current situation would not be as bad as it is now. A combination of more lower costs carriers, the decline in business travel, the current structure of trying to be all things to all people have hurt your industry. I somewhat agree "high" labor costs and work rules have contributed to the woes but not in itself. Seems like airline tickets have become a commodity yet business folks don't seem to think anything about paying $129 a night at the Hilton!
I wouldn't be so quick to fall on your sword and say you've brought this on yourselves. It is more complicated than that. Also, to a certain degree, management benefits from these "high" wages since their pay is usually reflective of what others in the company are getting paid. Of course the executives pay is off the charts! In a warped way, if management treats their own people like a commodity then it is only a matter of time they'll treat each other that way (management).
I think (honorable) capitalism is great but events over the last few years have caused me to be skeptical of big business. Things like credit card companies selling your personal information to other companies (I know you can request they don't do this but why should I have to be the one to request?). Companies moving their business to other countries like China.
Bottom line it cuts both ways, there are bums in labor and there are bums in management. At the same time there are good people in labor and management. Unfortunately, seems like there are more "greedy" folks in positions of authority.
I would also argue the folks at the regionals are underpaid. Companies want a four year degree plus all the hours to meet the minimum quals yet pay $30K a year is taking advantage of the desire to fly to say the least.

 

[CRJ200FO]

Bankruptcy happened at US Air...and it's a real possibility at UAL.
What the heck are ALPA and the other employee unions thinking? AMR (non-ALPA, but still...) lost almost 1 billion last quarter (924,000,000 to be exact). And all the unions say is "its managment's fault."

Yes, it is mgmt's fault. If every pilot at U agreed to work for free for 6 months the carrier would still be bankrupt. Labor costs are not causing the problems at these airlines. U bought dozens of new airplanes the last decade when they knew they were having financial problems. They started the ridiculous Metrojet carrier that every industry analyst said from the beginning would be a disaster. They competed directly with many of SWA's most popular routes without even attempting to reduce their cost structure. These are bad mgmt decisions. They were not the fault of labor. These are the reasons U is going bankrupt.

1. To make $25,000/month instead of $22,000/month, while only working 12 days or so a month.

2. Work rules that say if my vacation touches a trip, I'm displaced with no loss in pay. (I know guys at UAL who make over $20,000/ month a couple times year to not work at all, by bidding vacation that touches their trips.)

3. To have a double company fundedretirement plan? Why do we need a guaranteed A benefit funded by the company after we retire, and then a "B" benefit, funded by the company? Maybe it's becasue ALPA doesn't really care about the financially viability of the company...so they need a B fund just in case. With the money we make, shouldn't we be responsible for some of our own retirement?

ALPA is no longer "defending the poor, tired, over tasked laborer against the capitalist industrialists."

Most of us work less than half the month, at a job that's just not that tough, and our wages and benefits are better than just about any industry in America.

By being greedy, we have brought this on ourselves.

There are not that many of us only working 12 days a month and making $25k a month. Those are the very few people at the top of the seniority list. Five year captains at UAL are not getting anywhere near that kind of pay or those days off. After you have worked at an airline for 20 years I think you have earned the right to 18 days off and a good paycheck.

If you think that unions are destroying this industry, then go work for a non-union carrier and leave the rest of us alone.

And one more thing. Pick up a copy of Flying the Line Vols. 1 and 2. I think it might help you understand just how much ALPA has done for us in areas not just related to pay and benefits.

 

[JetPilot500]

Well said goldentrout.

A business is not a break-even venture. It is supposed to provide a profit to its owner or investors in return for their risked investment. As I said before, the airline does not exist just to make pilots millionairs.

I'm not saying we shouldn't make a good living, but we must be real here. Yes we do have a lot of responsibility, but you must admit, its a great career and the lifestyle is pretty great too.

Almost every employee at the airline is necessary. You don't hear fuelers demanding to be paid $100k per year do you? They could argue as well, "How can the company operate without us?" They are just as necessary as the pilots are.

If you keep acting like blue collar laborers, you will be treated as such. If you act as white collar professionals, you will be treated as such. Yes management is to blame as well. SWA is a perfect example of how a great CEO can affect the labor relations in such a positive way. It takes two to tango, and someone has to change first.

JetPilot500

 

[JetPilot500]

And one more thing. Pick up a copy of Flying the Line Vols. 1 and 2. I think it might help you understand just how much ALPA has done for us in areas not just related to pay and benefits.

ALPA was necessary back in the day. And they are still necessay today in many ways. But things have changed. It's not the 1970's and 80's anymore. However, ALPA is continuing to squeeze management further and further...eventually something has to break. Wait and see. Eventually when the Airlines go broke, for what ever reasons, things will change. Eventually, the company will no longer be able to afford to pay you, even if the problem is due to something else.

You don't work for the airline, you work for the passengers. And the passengers have said they are not willing to pay the same amount they used to for you to fly them from point A to point B. Is that managements fault? No, it's the way the economy works. UAL could barely afford to pay the raises they HAD to give in to a few years ago, and that is when times were good! And now they definately can't afford them.

Teamwork, will help the airlines survive. And I think it's great to see the Pilots and FA's at united have agreed to some cuts...hopefully it will be enough.

JetPilot500