V70T5,
Your comments listed below are meaningful & useful for folks wishing to come to SWA. They will hear them often, mostly from competitors but also from fellow SWA pilots. I realize you don't wish to get into a big debate & I understand why. I didn't take your comments as flaming but do find them worthy of debate.
>yeah, great, now maybe you guys can start getting paid like the other airlines pay their 737-700 drivers, as it is obvious that SWA is making money on the back of its lower paid workers. And don't give me that "all 737's" crap, that is a drop in the bucket compared to unit labor cost!<
The assumption (my apologies in advance for making them) from your statement is that wages for SWA pilots/employees or for any airline are & should be based upon what other airlines pay their pilots/employees.
In fact, in reality (IMHO) who determines the worth of a commodity is the customer, not the employer or other employers. Yes, for a period of time employers can bid up the wages of employees to get the right folks (sports teams do it all the time) but at some point the fan/customer will/does rebel. As they have against airlines that continue to charge confusing & high prices. Not all of this is caused by wages though.
What has caused the average wage of an airline pilot to in fact decrease over the past 20 years(inflation "real" dollars) is one simple fact, deregulation & in turn competition. With deregulation fares went up whenever the airlines could get a rate increase & which was often. Wages inevitably climbed & unions knew they would increase because the expense would be passed along at the next review board for fare increases.
With deregulation, that has slowed the "real growth" of wages, not SWA. SWA has merely taken advantage of what customers wanted, cheap fares & therefore we have filled airplanes & grown exponentially while other carriers have grown only marginally. Pay is only a portion of the equation however but labor costs do take up a huge portion of the equation & can't be ignored.
If the SWA pilots do vote for this current contract & raise our pay to within 15% of the industry average (some will argue that isn't a guaranteed raise because it is based upon profitability which ISN'T guaranteed!) by 2006 & we then get industry average or leading pay for subsequent years (a two step process, the current extension + a new contract in 2006) SWA will not fold obviously but we won't be making as much profit as were before either most likely. Will folks still flock to us if our fares have gone up proportionally? Who has a crystal ball to determine where our industry or pay scales will be in 2006 but for those like myself who are at other airlines with the same seniority but with a higher hourly pay rate than me, I wish them well because at all the airlines except for AA those 1st, 2nd & 3rd yr FOs are furloughed. Regardless of the fact a 1st, 2nd or 3rd year FO hard pay is higher than mine, if you're furloughed, it doesn't do much good.
Again, I respect your comments & hope others will use the proper tone in discussing the issue. I didn't take your comments as negative but merely as comments that are repeated quite often but that may not completely paint an accurate picture of SWA's role in determining wages....ultimately the customer decides in a non-regulated industry, my preferences completely!
Thanks again for your comments & good luck in your current job & getting on at AAL, a great competitor & airline.
God Bless
Your comments listed below are meaningful & useful for folks wishing to come to SWA. They will hear them often, mostly from competitors but also from fellow SWA pilots. I realize you don't wish to get into a big debate & I understand why. I didn't take your comments as flaming but do find them worthy of debate.
>yeah, great, now maybe you guys can start getting paid like the other airlines pay their 737-700 drivers, as it is obvious that SWA is making money on the back of its lower paid workers. And don't give me that "all 737's" crap, that is a drop in the bucket compared to unit labor cost!<
The assumption (my apologies in advance for making them) from your statement is that wages for SWA pilots/employees or for any airline are & should be based upon what other airlines pay their pilots/employees.
In fact, in reality (IMHO) who determines the worth of a commodity is the customer, not the employer or other employers. Yes, for a period of time employers can bid up the wages of employees to get the right folks (sports teams do it all the time) but at some point the fan/customer will/does rebel. As they have against airlines that continue to charge confusing & high prices. Not all of this is caused by wages though.
What has caused the average wage of an airline pilot to in fact decrease over the past 20 years(inflation "real" dollars) is one simple fact, deregulation & in turn competition. With deregulation fares went up whenever the airlines could get a rate increase & which was often. Wages inevitably climbed & unions knew they would increase because the expense would be passed along at the next review board for fare increases.
With deregulation, that has slowed the "real growth" of wages, not SWA. SWA has merely taken advantage of what customers wanted, cheap fares & therefore we have filled airplanes & grown exponentially while other carriers have grown only marginally. Pay is only a portion of the equation however but labor costs do take up a huge portion of the equation & can't be ignored.
If the SWA pilots do vote for this current contract & raise our pay to within 15% of the industry average (some will argue that isn't a guaranteed raise because it is based upon profitability which ISN'T guaranteed!) by 2006 & we then get industry average or leading pay for subsequent years (a two step process, the current extension + a new contract in 2006) SWA will not fold obviously but we won't be making as much profit as were before either most likely. Will folks still flock to us if our fares have gone up proportionally? Who has a crystal ball to determine where our industry or pay scales will be in 2006 but for those like myself who are at other airlines with the same seniority but with a higher hourly pay rate than me, I wish them well because at all the airlines except for AA those 1st, 2nd & 3rd yr FOs are furloughed. Regardless of the fact a 1st, 2nd or 3rd year FO hard pay is higher than mine, if you're furloughed, it doesn't do much good.
Again, I respect your comments & hope others will use the proper tone in discussing the issue. I didn't take your comments as negative but merely as comments that are repeated quite often but that may not completely paint an accurate picture of SWA's role in determining wages....ultimately the customer decides in a non-regulated industry, my preferences completely!
Thanks again for your comments & good luck in your current job & getting on at AAL, a great competitor & airline.
God Bless
