Originally Posted by
Rick777
The guys who take the illegal assignments and fly the broken airplanes are the ones who get the good schedules and early upgrades.
This is one of the standard arguments that is used to support seniority. If I may paraphrase: "Seniority is the only possible way we can resist pressure to compromise safety."
Do you *really* think that pilots are the only people on this planet who may face pressure while making decisions which affect lives?
Are you completely unaware that Doctors, Engineers, Boiler installers, Bus Drivers, Automobile Mechanics, and many, many more vocations involve activities which could potentially endanger human life? And that those practitioners may also face ethical dilemmas which in which there may be pressure to favor economics over safety? Are you also unaware that most of those people in those type of positions are not protected by seniority? Yet the world keeps turning.
The idea that Airline pilots are the only people whose jobs involve others' safety, and that the only way to manage that situation is with a seniority system is flawed in the extreme, if you stop and look at the world outside aviation.
What gets ignored is the the seniority system actually gives the unethical operators a *bigger* stick to wield when applying pressure to compromise safety.
Lets say that you're a Captain on a 737 for an operator who is really holding everyone's feet to the fire over fuel reserves; visits to the chief pilot's office if you put on more than the minimum dispatch amount, etc. etc. etc.
Now, all else being equal, which Captain do you think is going to be more likely to say, I don't need this pressure, and walk away from his captain's position which pays a comfortable salary?
A) The guy who knows that if things work out right, within about 3 months he could be sitting in the left seat of another 737, making a similar (Or maybe even higher) salary, perhaps for an operator who isn't pressuring him to fly with min fuel.
or.
B) The guy who knows that the very *best* he could possibly hope for is within 3 months being in the right seat at the very bottom of another seniority list, making first year probationary wages.
Do you really think that managers who might be inclined to place costs over safety aren't aware that they have a lot more power over pilot B then Pilot A? Are you so naive that you don't think that they use it?