Thank Duane

[shroomwell]

WSJ Reporting on Pilot Salaries Flies in the Face of Reality

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Despite ALPA's efforts to point out the flaws in recent Bureau of Labor Statistics information on pilot salaries, a prominent story on the report appears in The Wall Street Journal, pointing to pilots as "winners" among wage earners. Capt. Duane Woerth submitted the following letter, condemning the Journal's inaccurate reporting and failure to present deep, fundamental concerns about the BLS data in its coverage of the government report.

The Wall Street Journal
Letter to the Editor

The Air Line Pilots Association is outraged with The Wall Street Journal's lack of responsible reporting in its recent article on pilot salaries ("Wage Winners and Losers," Sept. 13). The article did a grave disservice to the thousands of pilots who have sacrificed billions in salary concessions and billions in lost pensions, not to mention the thousands of pilots currently furloughed and those who have lost their jobs and benefits completely.

In our conversation with the reporter, the Air Line Pilots Association provided clear and unequivocal evidence that serious questions exist concerning the Bureau of Labor Statistics data and how the study was conducted. These questions remain unresolved despite repeated calls to the agency.

Along with expressing these concerns in the strongest terms, we also stated the need to accurately report the unresolved questions surrounding the data. We provided the following quote to your reporter, "We're unclear how the government could have come up with numbers that show an increase. This study flies in the face of the reality that pilots are working more hours while taking substantial pay cuts, losing some or all of their pensions, and paying more for health care."

Regarding pilot work hours, the BLS data only reflects time spent actually flying. It does not include the additional time spent on pre- and post-flight activities, waiting at an airport for the next assigned flight, training, etc. Using the BLS definition, news reporters only work a few hours a week--the time they are actually on the air or at their keyboards writing their stories. This method is a gross distortion of the reality of pilot working hours.

Not only did The Wall Street Journal cover an extremely controversial study without performing due diligence as to how it was conducted, your paper failed to acknowledge the questions surrounding it. This article falls far below your paper's standards.

Capt. Duane E. Woerth
President

Thanks Duane for mentioning the thousands of regional pilots who work for substandard wages by any industry's definition.

 

[Taco Rocket]

WSJ Reporting on Pilot Salaries Flies in the Face of Reality

Back to top


​

Despite ALPA's efforts to point out the flaws in recent Bureau of Labor Statistics information on pilot salaries, a prominent story on the report appears in The Wall Street Journal, pointing to pilots as "winners" among wage earners. Capt. Duane Woerth submitted the following letter, condemning the Journal's inaccurate reporting and failure to present deep, fundamental concerns about the BLS data in its coverage of the government report.

The Wall Street Journal
Letter to the Editor

The Air Line Pilots Association is outraged with The Wall Street Journal's lack of responsible reporting in its recent article on pilot salaries ("Wage Winners and Losers," Sept. 13). The article did a grave disservice to the thousands of pilots who have sacrificed billions in salary concessions and billions in lost pensions, not to mention the thousands of pilots currently furloughed and those who have lost their jobs and benefits completely.

In our conversation with the reporter, the Air Line Pilots Association provided clear and unequivocal evidence that serious questions exist concerning the Bureau of Labor Statistics data and how the study was conducted. These questions remain unresolved despite repeated calls to the agency.

Along with expressing these concerns in the strongest terms, we also stated the need to accurately report the unresolved questions surrounding the data. We provided the following quote to your reporter, "We're unclear how the government could have come up with numbers that show an increase. This study flies in the face of the reality that pilots are working more hours while taking substantial pay cuts, losing some or all of their pensions, and paying more for health care."

Regarding pilot work hours, the BLS data only reflects time spent actually flying. It does not include the additional time spent on pre- and post-flight activities, waiting at an airport for the next assigned flight, training, etc. Using the BLS definition, news reporters only work a few hours a week--the time they are actually on the air or at their keyboards writing their stories. This method is a gross distortion of the reality of pilot working hours.

Not only did The Wall Street Journal cover an extremely controversial study without performing due diligence as to how it was conducted, your paper failed to acknowledge the questions surrounding it. This article falls far below your paper's standards.

Capt. Duane E. Woerth
President

Thanks Duane for mentioning the thousands of regional pilots who work for substandard wages by any industry's definition.

You know by now that we don't matter.... until a scapegoat is needed.