380 SPOT ON.
I believe that the problem outlined here has become increasingly worse over the past 5 years or so.
I embarked on flying training in the late 90's where even then being an Airline Pilot was one of the best paid professions around. Today I feel that Airline Pilots are still regarded as being highly trained professionals. I have many friend s that come from respected professions such as doctor, lawyer, surgeon's etc and they are all in awe and fascinated by the role of an Airline Pilot. Yet I could earn the same amount labouring on a building site.
It must be recognised that the initial and recurrent training for a pilot is a very specialised skill and the experience held by Airline Pilot's today is a credit to their professional aptitude. Therefore why are salaries and conditions going down. Many pilots I know are not even proud of their profession any more and consider themselves to be a lower status to many other professions out there. This attitude has to stop. It is these people that are willing to lie down and take the s*!t, work for free, pay for type ratings etc that will destroy our profession.
I have noticed that in small flying clubs there are very few young guns coming through aspiring to be airline pilots any more. I know many cadets from a major british airline have now left flying to embark on other carriers. If I was a school leaver now I would not go into flying I would pursue more lucrative carriers.
I hate to sound like a money grabbing communist but good T & C are the key to a happy home life and carrier.
380 also made comments on the way companies put pressure on crew to push the limits on different aspects of their jobs. I myself have worked for some real cowboy outfits (corporate airline in Oxfordshire being one) I have witnessed crews being intimidated by just one guy - The Ops Manager. Because the O M was friends with the MD he thought he had the power to make the crews work out of duty, non-stop standby cancel leave etc. Whenever a crew member contested this the O M just went running to his little MD friend with a fabricated story and the crew member would be labelled as a militant and disciplined. In one case a young FO that stood up for himself over moral and safety matters was sacked. I know that all the other crews aggreed with the FO but didn't speak up when it mattered. Therefore the poor young lad had no back up, not even from the cheif pilot.
The problem is that there are to many soft guys that will just stick their heads in the sand and let the poor conditions get worse. They all moan but never do anything about it.
I am not militant myself. I realise that we work for someone else and airlines are businesses. Therefore there has to be a capitalist mentality. But if pilots stop doing things like offer, I repeat offer to pay for type ratings airlines will realise that type rated guys are hard to come by in the big scheme of things and therefore the airline will fear the cost of retraining new guys. This would mean airlines would be nice to the crews to keep them happy so they stay. It would also stop the guys getting there first jobs and having to pay for type ratings after they have already sold their souls to the banks!
Its the old ideal of you treat us nice, we'll treat you nice - every ones happy in a freindly profitable company.
Poor T & C's can kill a firm. People start bitching and moaning which winds every one elso up. Also people are less willing to put their necks on the line to get the job done.
May be I'm living in dolly daydream land and my happy comfort zone will never be achieved but I just think that a happy workforce equals a very productive workforce.