Originally Posted by
booze
Dunno how it works on your side of the pond, however after my recent experiences in a highly unionised airline in Iceland, which went bankrupt, by the way, my 2 cents are that I should've spent the union fees on entertainment because our's was one of the definite contributing factors to the above mentioned bankruptcy.
Unions being responsible for airlines going under is nothing but an old wives' tale told to scare the youngsters. Unions will recognize when it is better to lower conditions to keep an airline afloat and save unionized jobs.
To all those who advocate spending the money on video games. Pilot working conditions are better than the average job because of unions. And they will only stay like this through unions. Those places paying nicely without unions do so because the majority of airlines is unionized and has set a certain level of compensation. That level was not written on the tablets of stone brought down from the mountain. Even a less-than-optimum union is better than no union.
If you're in doubt read up on the history of ALPA and check out the working conditions in the late 30s when airlines spurned unions and "when often a pilot's union card would only be discovered on his dead body after a crash".