Originally Posted by
physicx
The shortage is created by flight schools and airlines to keep up business and pay low (insurance companies too).
Laws of demand and supply: If pilot supply increases and demand remains unchanged, then it leads to lower pay
IF(!) the pilots allow the pay to go down!
Sticking together, across airlines and across countries, refusing to allow bad times in the business affect our T&Cs, is possible.
Do airlines pay less for the fuel because times are bad? Do they pay less for the aircraft? For the catering? For capex? NO! They pay the market rate!
The market rate of a pilot shouldn't be dictated in a board room, but in the intra European pilot union conferences! If the pilots bodies stick together, they dictate the market rate of their labour. Management will always attempt divide and conquer in order to drive down conditions, and way too many professional (!) pilots are far too eager to help them out. And then they b*tch and moan.