Guvnor, it is not a case of being indispensable or not. As you point out all the different trades and professions are needed. The difference in value depends on how easy it is to replace those different workers.
As we all know it takes many years to aquire the skills to manage (not just pilot) a large jet a/c and the hoops and hurdles we have to navigate through to get there make it a very demanding profession which not everyone can get into even if they want to. Comparing it to any of the other jobs that are involved in making the airline run is about as relevant as comparing chalk and cheese.
Apart from fully qualified engineers the rest of the jobs you mention are not highly skilled and can be replaced in a much shorter time. As you have stated you will be outsourcing many of the jobs if you ever get your airline off the ground and we all know that means relying on a company to provide unskilled or low skilled labour at even lower wages than you are prepared to pay. If those workers, usually temporary or seasonal, were to start demanding pay rises in line with what the pilots are asking for then yes they could cause some disruption but they are unlikely to achieve their demands are they?
It is not a case of the pilots believing they are worth more than the other workers, it is a fact. They have spent longer aquiring their licences, skills etc than all of the others and they are expected to keep those skills at a high level at least twice a year for their sim checks, never mind the medicals. Not one of the other workers you have mentioned have to pass a medical and maintain such a high level of competence which is evaluated twice a year.
It is no use stating the obvious. We know that if an engineer doesn’t sign off the Tech Log or the cabin crew don’t show up or the tug driver doesn’t come to work or the ticket agent doesn’t check the pax in or whatever the aircraft isn’t going anywhere. To say that we shouldn’t base our demands on what we believe we are worth and the industry can afford is just a desperate cry of realisation by managers like yourself that it is going to cost you more to operate your airline and therefore you have to charge more to your customers.
If the engineers are not happy with what they are getting and there is a shortage of them then you will see equally ‘outrageous’ (to you) demands from them in due course. The airlines where you now see industrial action have consistently failed to invest in their workers, whether it be pay or conditions and they are now reaping the rewards of industrial action because the short term view of the managers and beancounters who only saw bottom line ‘profit’, ie price and not value which involves a lot more for a lot longer.
The airlines where the management actually value their pilots and realise that they are not just a commodity but highly motivated individuals who appreciate recognition for their skills and the long road it took to get there and the equally complicated effort it takes to maintain those skills and proficiency will not have to worry about industrial action. Airlines such as CX where the dinosaurs from the ‘lorenzo school of mismanagement’ believe in the motto “beatings will continue until morale improves” have only their ‘beancounter’ shortsightedness leaders to blame for letting the situation develop into the action that is now being taken.
Those same ‘beancounter’ leader types have been mismanaging BA pilots for many years. They are not worried about the long term effects of their decisions because they know they will be far away in another company by the time the mess has to be cleared up, content with their golden handshakes. The BA pilots rightly feel aggrieved with their pay and conditions and that is due to the management not respecting them and their skills. If the new leadership in BA has any sense, and we will find out nearer the time, then they will negotiate and reach a settlement that both sides find acceptable. I doubt anyone will be happy but whatever BA manage to achieve for themselves will set the standard for the rest of the airlines in the UK.
Anyone who calls the pilots greedy is not a pilot themselves. If we are comparing chalk and cheese then lets compare baggage handlers to bond traders. Now there’s a difference in salary to compare. Oh, lets not forget consultants, lawyers, surgeons, IT specialists etc.
[ 14 July 2001: Message edited by: Sir Algernon Scruggs ]