Originally Posted by
boeingeng
Surely the market rate of a pilot is decided in exactly the same way as everyone else - by supply and demand. If there are enough kids who dont think that loading themselves up with 50k of debt is a great idea then there will be a pilot shortage and T&C's will rise.
I knew someone would bite and write that. This is such a common thing to hear, especially in our community. But this is false, because it would mean that you see yourself as nothing more than a easily attainable commodity - but it isn't that simple. If the price of oil starts going down, does opec keep producing the same amount of barrels or do they adjust their output? You know the answer, and it's because they have the power to affect the market price by adjusting supply.
Its also false, because we cannot be replaced by average Joe on the street. So if the workforce in an airline disagree with T&C's, they can retract their labour, which also stops the training of their replacements (which by the way is a very slow process due to the nature of our business)
This is a process that was established in the beginning of the previous century, and there are usually very strong laws around Europe to protect the workers in that regard. It's the foundation of a healthy power balance between the provider and customer of the labour.
Personally I find that people from the UK in particular are very reluctant to accept this principle. It seems to be some odd remnant of the Thatcher era, where people seem to think that the profit of the company is the sole concern for all employees.
We're no different from people working in a mine or on a production line in a factory. We can all be replaced with cheaper versions of ourselves, it's up to us to stick together and make sure that costs more (for example by refusing to train our replacements or completely withdrawing our labour if management even try to replace us) than increasing our T&C's to a healthy level which reflects our responsibility and productivity.
Why is a medium size jet captain paid nearly twice as much ( gross, currency equivalent) in the US compared to comparable airlines in Europe? It sure isn't because the US guys fly twice as much.