Originally Posted by sleemanj
I fail to see how this is a problem that a regulator can fix...
First, my comments were towards GA
as an industry rather than just instructors as a microcosm of that industry.
As a part of the process of certificating any aviation business to conduct that aviation activity, the regulator has a
legislatively mandated responsibility to ensure the financial viability of the proposed business. If the proposed business cannot demonstrate the financials to support their business case, no AOC is forthcoming.
How simple would it be for the government to mandate an extension to that
via the regulator to ensure that all full-time and/or part-time employees are:
- Paid
- Paid a mandated minimum rate, and
- Paid when they are supposed to be
as a part of that
already existing certification process. Surely the financial viability of a business that the regulator
is already assessing must include the businesses
intended, planned and ongoing ability to pay their employees at a level that allows them to support themselves?
I'm not advocating that the regulator become any form of quasi-employee advocate in wage negotiations or anything like that. But if the regulator is doing their job comprehensively at the certification (and renewal) stage, the ability of the business to support
all its employees
must be a critical part of that assessment.
For decades now the regulators have simply washed their hands of pilot remuneration issues, turning a Napoleonic eye to the "work for free to get hours" generation... they're now reaping the return of that lack of due care and attention. Allowing "market forces" to set remuneration levels as low as $0pa hasn't worked, we can all see the mess that that has created and will continue to create for some time to come. The employers are not of their own free will going to set levels of remuneration at a realistic level; the only solution I can see is for the regulator to step in and set a level below which it is
illegal to pay, or lose your AOC. The employers will sit up & pay attention then.
They should have done so 20+ years ago.