Fact: There are WAY too many pilots looking for work in the US.
Fact: Remove all foreign pilots from the pool and there are WAY too many pilots looking for work in the US.
Fact: Too much of any resource drives it's cost down.
Fact: Scarce resources require more money to obtain.
Fact: "Career-quality" pilot jobs are few and far between here in the US.
Fact: The barriers to entry into the airline industry for start-up carriers is very low (Airbus practically gave the A-320's to jetBlue). The "barriers to exit" from the airline industry are very high (read anything on GECAS lately?).
Fact: It is very easy to find pilots willing to work for start-up airlines.
Fact: It is very easy to find pilots willing to work for wages and benefits (if any) that are unacceptably low over the long-haul.
Fact: Too much competition makes profits hard to come by unless the costs of production are very low. (Yes, SWA pilots make a nice living but there's more to the equation than just labor).
Fact: Unions (in any industry) are necessary to extract pay and benefits from employers who otherwise would take advantage of the abundant supply of labor. This is accomplished by effectively "shrinking" the supply of labor into a unified bloc. The bloc wields influence because it negotiates as a single entity and can ultimately withhold services to an extent that the company could not function without its cooperation. (No flames necessary - I am a unionist).
QUESTION: Are there significant numbers of American citizens (US citizenship ONLY) working for EU
national carriers, e.g. British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Alitalia, Swiss? My guess is there are very, very few (unless they've got dual citizenship some how).
Here's an idea:
Overhaul the US pilot licensing standards. Increase the difficulty of obtaining all classes of license to mirror or exceed (really, to improve on) the standards set by the EU countries for licensure.
Why?
Two equally important reasons. First, reduce the number of pilots in the labor pool thus making pilots a scarcer commodity. This will translate into higher salaries, better working conditions, and realistic career opportunities over time - for those who can cut the mustard.
And, first again, rigor is good. A higher bar will weed out those who can't demonstrate an academic or performance aptitude and will eliminate those who cannot hack the workload or want only to put forth enough effort to be an airborne taxi driver (look, cells in a petri dish can control an airplane in flight
http://www.napa.ufl.edu/2004news/braindish.htm [what does this do to the perception of the profession?]. I'd rather know the guy sitting next to me has demonstrated the ability to function at a high level and whose capacities stretch beyond being able to physically fly the airplane).
Oh, one more thing - any change to the licensing standards that would potentially reduce the size of the labor pool would necessarily require governmental restrictions on the hire of foreign citizens as pilots. I would propose that no foreign citizen be allowed to work as a commercial pilot in the United States unless he has been naturalized and has lived in the US for an uninterrupted period of 15 years. YES - I'm all for protectionist policies. If we open the door to the world labor market we do nothing to help ourselves. Big business has brainwashed the simpleminded that protectionist policies are "anti-American". Bull$hit! If anything it's resoundingly
pro-American.
Of course, a huge obstacle would be the cost. The idea would NOT be to make becoming a pilot available only to the rich. The idea would be to make becoming a pilot available to THE BEST.
Remember, it's only an idea. I'd like to see some constructive discussion on this rather than just flames.
I believe the profession would benefit from raising the bar.
