Every now and then
JS introduces his rather extreme and negative view of airline pilots and every time he gets the same reaction. His views are not all wrong but they are simplistic.
Supply and Demand does not dictate everything. It provides a guide to the parameters of pay. There will be a point where the bottom is hit and the supply will dry up. Then artificial influences come into play. Just ask a train driver. Higher paid than most FO's, their job is easy by comparison. The thing is on rails so cannot get lost and does not go up or down. There is no shortage of people trying to be one and they go on strike again next month for more money, which they will get. Now let me try to work out what the difference is…
To get the thread a little more on track. The view that a CEO is only responsible for profit and that supply and demand is all that matters is very simplistic. If this were entirely true and were the only drivers we would be seeing prices of all goods and salaries of all employees flying up and down continuously. There are many other influencers at play and some of these are reasonableness, moderation and fairness. These are principles applied by all the best companies and best CEOs in the world as they recognise that shareholder return, albeit vital, is not the only factor at play. An unhappy workforce can cost a business millions and badly hit shareholder return. And that is why Norwegian seek to employ the way they do. They are trying to get the best of both worlds by smashing employee costs and removing the potential for the consequent unhappy workforce to do anything about it.