As I see it, these are the pros and cons for the pilot in working for a company that employs a seniority sytem.
The pros of seniority:
- Time in the company is rewarded. Those who have been employed longer are rewarded with commands, better routes (and in some companys better renumeration as a result), better choice of leave and more protection from redundancy when things aren't going so well (providing Last In First Out principles are applied).
The cons of seniority:
- Starting at the bottom is bad for morale (once the initial enthusiasm has worn off), especially If you have just joined the company at the end of an expansion and will stay there for a while. (Poor leave, poor routes, first out etc.) This is especially so in a company, who for example, only operates long haul routes and has quite a high minimum hours requirement on joining.
- If you enjoy seniority in a company which goes under, you end up starting again at the bottom again, unless you are lucky enough to join a company who doesn't use seniority or is starting up and has DE command places.
- If you have seniority and are not happy, you are stuck if you can't afford to move. The prospect of leaving and starting again is generally too daunting.
- Seniority stifles pay. Companies who operate seniority systems know this and it reflects in pay negotiations. They know there won't be a mass exodus to a competitor when the offer doesn't meet the pilot's expectations - again!
- Promotion is restricted. Waiting for command and watching younger, less qualified, less able pilots with less hours being put in command seats just because it's their turn is poor for morale for those more experienced pilots who have joined from another company.
- The pilots who get training and management positions aren't necessarily the best for the job - if it's done on seniority. This is especially so in management where it is impossible to bring new blood and fresh ideas in. This can have the effect of stifling the company's developement to both the detriment of the pilots and the company.
You have probably gathered that I am not a fan of company seniority. Last year, I joined a large company which has contaracted in the last year (9/11 - no suprises!) and will not have any significant growth for a long time to come. Despite leaving a company with lots of experience (a training Captain) I am faced with the prospect of being a career F/O - as the company has to more than double in size before it's my turn to swap seats. I have seen all of the problems outlined above in my company - not from just my perspective, but from all my fellow F/Os. It was my choice to move. But the company had a better perceived future when I joined.
But I am doing something about it - by joining a company which is expanding. And a lot of my fellow F/Os close to the bottom are moving on as well. this means the company is now losing out on it's training investment and is having to recruit. I think it will find that it won't be able to recruit the same calibre of people it could in the past once pilots realise that they will be in the right hand seat for a very long time. There's another con - for the company this time!
OK, so I hear you say "these is just the rantings from a guy at the bottom". May be so, but if you examine all my cons objectively, perhaps you will agree with me that company seniority is not a good thing.
The solution? Perhaps an industry wide acceptance that experience is seniority. A formal system could be managed by an independant body such as BALPA or the IPA - but the senior Pilots (with their own senioity) in these organisations wouldn't agree, so this is probably a non starter. The airlines themselves wouldn't administer it either, as they see seniority as a good way of restricting movement of the workforce to their benefit.
So it won't work and we are stuck with company seniority and all it's disadvantages? Well, maybe - but maybe not. The low cost airlines with their non seniority based systems, are growing and will continue to do so, generating new business and taking business from the more traditional (seniority based) companys. Pay, especially Command pay in these operations is good, and doesn't seem to be restricted by movement between companys.
Perhaps things are improving!
