How to Earn Respect as an Airline Pilot

[Snapshot]

What's an example of another profession of which the professionals were and continue to gain and keep respect?

United States Armed Forces.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

But the results are the same if you put your company in a non-competitive position through work action,

I highly doubt labor alone in the airline industry has the abilty to put a company in a non competitive position without management bearing quite a bit of the responsibility...

you will be at a disadvantage in the market.

If a pilot groups deisre to strike yielded a market disadvantage then the pilots themselves where already disadvantaged....

Why would you expect a pilot who is ecomonically disadvantaged to continue to be so while his/her company continued to profit at his/her expense....

 

[ableone]

We are supposed to be trading insults about how we look, not job action debates.

So back to the topic:

We all have issues with the hat but where to draw the line.

How does everybody feel about the Virgin uniform?

Is this the direction we want to go or do we want to look like a Pan AM crew circa 1950?

 

[pilotyip]

What profits?

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Why would you expect a pilot who is ecomonically disadvantaged to continue to be so while his/her company continued to profit at his/her expense....

profitable companies share with their employees, look at UPS, SWA etc. Companies with 1% to 2% profits margins can not share, because there is nothing to share. You need a certain margin to attract additional captial and operate. BTW this is still a great career, upper income of the US wage earners, lots of time off, and doing somethihg you love. Few people get to expereince that in their lives. I guess there are too many pilot who don't like to fly airplanes?

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

profitable companies share with their employees, look at UPS, SWA etc. Companies with 1% to 2% profits margins can not share, because there is nothing to share. You need a certain margin to attract additional captial and operate. BTW this is still a great career, upper income of the US wage earners, lots of time off, and doing somethihg you love. Few people get to expereince that in their lives. I guess there are too many pilot who don't like to fly airplanes?

Then respond to the Airline execs who paid themselves millions after raping employee pay, bennies and retirement.

 

[PCL_128]

How does everybody feel about the Virgin uniform?

It looks ridiculous. Like some bastardized star trek or star wars uniform.

 

[PCL_128]

profitable companies share with their employees, look at UPS, SWA etc.

They don't "share," they are forced to negotiate with their unions like any other company. If they could get away with it, they'd pay their employees minimum wage. What don't you get about that?

 

[pilotyip]

smart companies

They don't "share," they are forced to negotiate with their unions like any other company. If they could get away with it, they'd pay their employees minimum wage. What don't you get about that?

Smart companies take care of their employees. If they can afford it, it makes good business sense to pay them more to increase retention and improve morale. It makes them a good company. An employee association union or not lets them works with a single voice to reach an agreement. It is all part of the process. That way when 50.5% say they like the deal, it is a done deal. What don't you get about that?

 

[PCL_128]

Smart companies take care of their employees. If they can afford it, it makes good business sense to pay them more to increase retention and improve morale. It makes them a good company. An employee association union or not lets them works with a single voice to reach an agreement. It is all part of the process. That way when 50.5% say they like the deal, it is a done deal. What don't you get about that?

Doesn't happen in the airline business. Everything is a knock-down, drag-out fight with management. There is no cooperation, and there are no "smart companies."

 

[pilotyip]

compared to what?

Then respond to the Airline execs who paid themselves millions after raping employee pay, bennies and retirement.

What is the alternative to the way it works out? Would an airline pilot step up to solve the airlines financial problems? Perhaps we could hire a recent Univ of Phoenix graduate at minimum wage to reorganize the company? When he fails and the airline folds, is anyone better off. Are the CEO wages excessive, probably but compared to what. If staying at his Wall Street job it would probably be about equal. This is a pilot board so saying anything in defense of management is like peeing into the wind, that it is going to come back to you. CEO's are not intentionally running airlines into the ground. They would very much like to succeed. For lack of other reason it would make their resume look great, they would be doing something no other CEO had ever done. Top management includes many besides the CEO, the CEO sets direction as requested by the board. The CEO has little control over the airline, the airline is run by regulation and union contracts. They are at the mercy of the purchasing public, who with Internet access has made the airline ticket a perfectly elastic commodity. There is little they can do inside their structure. Other high paid top management personnel, in Operations, Maintenance. Marketing, Legal, Finance, etc. have unique skills in dealing with large organizations. This makes them marketable when shopping for a job, unlike pilots whose skills are nearly universal. . An issue of ATW in 2002 had an article about “Airline Management a dying breed”, the article basically said no one wants to do it. The good track record CEO’s are going to other industries. With tremendous, payrolls, overhead burdens, and extremely low margins, there is no tried and true path to success.