Why is anybody even contemplating this rubbish?
Does a freight company ask a driver to pay for his forklift rating?
Does NASA ask astronauts to pay for Space Shuttle ratings?
My brother is an accountant. He got a new job where the employer
paid him to finish his CPA qualifications.
The answer is simple, too many pilots and too few jobs and the employer can shaft you however he likes. The only answers are:
1) Less pilots more jobs or
2) ONE pilot union (combination of AIPA and AFAP) whose leaders are paid and not simply using the union as a ladder to management. If pilots don't join that union they should not be entitled to any gains the union acheives on behalf of the members.
In the short term, I dont see either of the above happenning. Until somebody takes charge, you guys are going to get progressively more shafted by the upwardly-mobile Corporate types.
Paying for ratings isn't scabbing as such but still undermines everybody. Don't do it.