Faire d'income,
Originally Posted by Nearly Nigel
I am sure that there will be issues that I haven't thought of, but overall, I would have to suggest that seniority benefits the companies much more than the pilots.
My post on seniority was not supposed to be exhaustive, and I thank you for adding your thoughts. May I be allowed to amend my position slightly in view of the comments you have added?
I was just trying to point out that there are advantages for both sides in having an established (and effectively policed) seniority list. The union involvement in policing it effectively WRT promotion and redundancy is a slightly separate issue from its existence in the first place though and I also agree with all your points regarding us needing to stick together. Unfortunately us Nigels do not have a particularly good historical record in that direction.
You are so right about the need for effective union representation though. As an example, I have worked in a company where promotion was at the whim of the Chief Training Captain despite us having had a seniority list. The guys and gals not on the 'popular' list didn't even get a crack at a command course.
So maybe I might be allowed to amend my summing up (quoted above) to the following...
I am sure that there will be issues that I haven't thought of, and clearly there are both benefits and disadvantages for both sides in having an established and well policed seniority list, some of which are not as clear cut as some posters on here would have us believe. Overall, I feel that seniority has more benefits for the companies than it may appear at first glance.