Originally Posted by
MichaelOLearyGenius
There is a pilot shortage in the USA. Senior pilots have recently negotiated huge salary increases to over $500,000. They also have the scope clause limiting the size of commuter aircraft junior pilots fly and the remuneration they can get. This is why the E195-E2 does not fly in the USA, it is deemed to be a mainline aircraft by its weight and size and therefore you are deemed a mainline pilot if you fly one. Senior pilots want to limit the number of mainline pilots entering the profession to inflate their own salaries hence they don't want foreign pilots either.
MOG,
Just for purposes of gentlemanly discussion, I’m afraid you’ve assigned “senior pilots” (by which I assume you mean those at the top of the seniority list) far more authority and influence than they actually have.
The activities of pilot unions are conducted by representatives elected by the membership where a pilot one month from retirement has only one vote like a pilot at the bottom of the seniority list. This includes approving negotiated contracts where only membership ratification brings them into final being. And these days with large mandatory retirements and wild hiring filling up the bottom of the seniority list, there are many more “junior pilots” than ever before.
And frankly, I rather doubt many of them care who gets hired after them.
Pilots and their unions do not hire pilots or have the authority to control/influence who gets interviewed and hired…they just don’t. Pilot hiring is a jealously-fiercely-guarded management function. The unions certainly have their opinions (and will express them as ALPA has done) of who should be hired but the final say rests with management alone.
As for hiring expats, management at the likes of DL, UA, AA, SWA, FedEx, UPS have historically not wanted to mess with anything less certain than a green card. To “sponsor” expats in iffier immigrant categories is just too complicated and expensive to be practical in their estimation. I’d expect by the empirical evidence of hiring in the last few years, they have all the pilots they need and it will continue that way. And if push came to shove, I’d expect them to take 1500-hour CFIs before sponsoring expats. After all, it’s to be expected that airlines prefer hiring their own citizens. I can’t go fly for a British airline just because I want to…same in reverse.
True enough, there have been some LCCs, regionals or start-ups who’ve taken Aussies on E3s or a couple of other nationalities on H1B1s but they have a tougher time competing for/retaining pilots than the Big Boys who are unequivocally career destinations. And these non-green card visas are often country-specific…something else over which “senior pilots” have no control.
As for negotiated efforts to limit what flying is done at mainline vs subsidiaries, “scope” is just an effort to assure that any flying done by a company is done by mainline pilots…merely protecting mainline jobs. That’s what pilot unions do. I never shared the cockpit with anyone I’d mistake for Mother Teresa.
Personally, I’m neither for nor against hiring expats. I’m just an interested (and amused) observer whose opinion is certifiably irrelevant but have been intrigued by pilot supply/demand since the mid 1960s. And I do enjoy seeing airline management squirm and sweat to hire pilots. I also say there’s really no pilot shortage….just lots of hiring. Seats
WILL be filled and airplanes flown. Watch and see...