rtforu - the best few sentences I've read for a long while...."Yes it's true that pilots salaries and conditions are continually being degraded but to some extent we are probably partly to blame. As a group we have never got it together and really come up with any countermeasures to arrest the continual decline. Instead, all we do is fight amoungst ourselves and look in other peoples back yards, ie Dixon and co, and whinge". Well said.
I couldn't agree more. Whether those not involved agree or not, this catalyst for this rot was 1989 and sadly it has only got worse since. Now we have
VB pilots 'undermining' QF pilots, disenfranchised GA pilots bitter at lack of career advancement potential, QF pilots undermining CX colleagues and the tax-breaks they previously achieved and amateurs with political clout determining Aviation policy in Canberra. We sit passively by and the best we can do to arrest this decline in snipe at each other like little girls on PPruNe.
I watch these pages where pilots degrade other pilots and I hang my head in sadness. A once proud profession is (by it's own doing) destroying itself.
As much as I hate to admit it, I realistically think there is little chance of Professional aircrew in this country uniting as a cohesive group with one determined and respected industrial representative.
Instead of whinging about Dixon (which I am indeed guilty of too because he is a hypocrite) get in there, get cohesive as an industrial group and do something about it.
Get the AFAP and the AIPA back together, get some unity and cohesiveness, stop bitching and do something concrete to improve your lot. Volunteer your time and effort to regroup and rebuilt this shattered industry. If you as a National Jet Captain or 767 F/O are struggling financially now, how do you think your lot will improve if you don't fight to improve it?
It certainly won't happen by moaning on P bloody PRunNe!
And what are the chances of my idealistic concept being realised? I am sure responses on this and other threads will amply demonstrate why we are where we are
.
==============================================
............oh and Dehavillanddriver, I'm sorry but from my fairly extensive research on exactly this issue may I humbly suggest your post is miles off course there!
If you really want an indication of how poorly paid Aussie pilots are, try to get a peek a report published annually by a Middle-Eastern airline. This report graphs global airlines against each other and is completely adjusted for cost of living and after-tax income in that country, so a fair comparison can be made.
The report amply demonstrates Qantas pilots are paid completely C RAP with a capital C, essentially the cheap white trash of the airline world and the Virgin Blue salaries are simply a joke.
There should never be the mentality that "Oh my mate does X for a job and only gets paid Y so I should be happy I guess". Instead we should look at what our colleagues elsewhere earn and aim to at least parallel that.
Globally we have a very long way to go to catch up and to do that we must get cohesive first.
But I suspect that ain't going to happen.