Originally Posted by
neville_nobody
1. USA has a real shortage of pilots.
2. Australians going to the USA are not undercutting the US market.
3. The US government would never let foreigners in if there was qualified citizens unemployed
This is just a last ditch effort by Alliance to set a legal precedent and set the lowest conditions possible until there is a implosion of the Australian pilot labour market and they start becoming price takers.
1. Does the USA have a shortage of pilots or a shortage of appropriately qualified pilots.
2. That is debatable, if foreign pilots are not sourced what would happen to the terms and conditions of the USA pilots?
3. The Australian Government would never let foreigners in if there are qualified citizens unemployed.
The USA has a shortage of qualified pilots due to the 1500 hour requirement passed post Coglan, the real reason for the accident though was fatigue caused by excessive commuting due to insufficient pay to live at the local base, which funnily enough was looked over. The market in the USA is not dissimilar to here in OZ, lots of licenced pilots but not enough qualified and experienced pilots, if you accept that in the USA importing qualified pilots instead of upskilling their own is appropriate then surely the same can be said here. A British pilots with thousands of hours on the E190 is surely more appropriate than a local pilot with no jet time.