I have been around Canadian aviation long enough to know as a pilot in Canada, you get no recognition OR respect from any corner or any direction in which you care to look whether or not you seek recognition at all.
You're nothing more than a glorified bus driver!
Really?
Dodging thunderstorms over the Bay of Bengal recently it occurred to me, yet again, that I am certainly anything but a glorified bus driver.
We must all decide for ourselves how we view our chosen profession and we owe it to ourselves as well to think about how we should be treated by our employers. WITH or WITHOUT union representation.
I don't run an airline so I don't have all the answers but I do know I have yet to meet a pilot who can be blamed for running his/her company out of business because of wages.
Add up the years YOU'VE been in the industry and think about the changes and failures. Think about the families destroyed, careers ruined, the money lost and the numbers forced to leave the country either by fate or fortune.
It doesn't take much to see the joke this flying for a living has become and no single operator can be held up as an example of how it's done, and NO, not even Westjet.
It's not going to improve by starting up another LCC in Canada. Hiring or contracting foreign pilots isn't going to make it better, improve our working conditions or change a thing. It's all a load of crap.
An Air Canada LITE will need fresh blood and an unsoiled mental attitude if they are to be successful. Using mainline pilots isn't going to improve the odds of survival. I am simply expressing a personal opinion based on almost 35 years of working in this crap. You decide for yourself.
I for one, AM NOT a glorified bus driver and in all probability, neither are you. I'm not willing to work for any Canadian outfit that doesn't recognize or credit me with the qualifications and experience I bring to the table and I am not willing to pay union dues to any pilot union that says I must sit as a junior F/O nor am I willing to work at any of these monkey outfits that insist I only receive $50,000 p.a. for the privilege of flying. It is NOT the industry standard as they would have you believe nor should it be. Therefore, I don't work for a Canadian operator nor am I likely to any time soon. It is only what those who are willing to sell their souls for who accept those bulls*#t wages. Good luck to them. If more among us were to hold out for better wages and working conditions, have more self respect for their qualifications and experience, it might force someones hand to change things for the better.
Naw, that ain't going to happen.
I can appreciate ALPA and ACPA drive a hard bargain and stand up for their members salaries and benefits, but to cross pollenate mainline union pilots with the new LCC pilots?
Personally, I don't think it will work and that's not a sell out by any stretch.
It's just my personal assessment.
Willie
