You shall reap what you sow
You´re going to reap just what you sow
There can be no doubt that we have a very peculiar system in aviation regarding seniority. If you lose your job, regardless of your level of experience, you will have to start at ground level with your new employer. Only a pilot would accept such a system. It is unique to our profession. Imagine the CEO or General Manager of your airline starting over as a clerk or secretary if he/she were to join the competition.
Despite the fact that only the company benefits from this, pilots have been holding on to this system for decades. Airlines reap the benefits of getting highly qualified employees at minimum wage. Pilots on the other hand gain nothing.
The fear of being bypassed on your list completely eclipses the dramatic consequences of having to start over from scratch when joining a new company. It´s all or nothing.
Working in this industry used to mean fairly steady employment, especially in the government owned and subsidized airlines outside of North America. Lay offs and furloughs were a rarity. Well, things have changed and because of this, new concepts are being discussed, locally and internationally. We´re talking about joint seniority lists.
There is really nothing new to this. The ideas have been raised and rejected. What is different this time is that the industry has changed, and the stakes are not what they used to be. Creating a unified seniority list at any level is not easy. There are many factors to consider, such as seniority, pay scale, pension, level of experience, etc., all of which make a solution seem next to impossible. Never the less: Where there is a will, there is a way.
Joint seniority lists and similar solutions are still in the future. But it is important to let the thought ripen in our collective conscience. It is entirely up to us to find a solution that is both intelligent and practical.
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The above is an editorial lifted from the Norwegian Pilots Association magazine. It has been slightly edited and translated by an amateur.