We are not the only industry to suffer because of the selfish actions of a naive fringe. The article below was taken from another forum in another professional based industry, where they have a very similar problem. With a "some" poetic license and changing a few words, it fits our industry well
Some pilots behave like scabs in that they make it impossible to act collectively; they function as a selfish, naive, army of the unemployed, they drive down wages, and then they condemn the rest of us who don't adopt their individualist outlook as unjustified complainers or greedy. Essentially, the "I-can't-believe-I-get-paid-to-do-this" pilots sell out to their exploiters in the hopes of getting crumbs from the table.
These pilots are a downtrodden lot, but I wonder if pilots who are committed to change and collective action need to draw a line and declare, 'You are with us or against us.' And, if you are an pilot who undercuts wages, expands the tyranny of flexibility, refuses to help your fellow aviation workers, and then proclaims how wonderful the system is . . . well, what would a serious union movement do?
Some may comment suggesting that at least some pilots, behave like scabs. This is a delicate and thorny issue, which in the current climate of exploitation is raised regularly. One of the problems surrounding discussions of the professional pilot, is that we are all too polite, and let's face, all too embarrassed, to confront the issues openly and frankly.
To work as a professional pilot, is not only to consent to one's own exploitation but also to participate in the unfolding process of the deprofessionalization of pilots more broadly. And this is quite apart from whatever pronouncements one makes on the topic: whether one says, "Professional flying is a bad deal" or "I can't believe they pay me to do this!" it is the flying at a low wage and poor working conditions, that contributes to the devaluation of our profession.
In common parlance, the term "scab" refers to someone who is doing something in relation to union or association activity. A scab is someone who crosses a picket line, who refuses to join a union, who takes a job as a replacement worker for a worker who is out on strike and so on. I think it's obvious that some pilots are not scabs in this way. They are not refusing to join a union or association. Nor are some pilots crossing pickets lines or taking jobs as some did in the late 80's, as replacement workers for full-time union or association members.
So the term can only make sense in a looser way, as a means of calling attention to the ways in which some pilots undercut the salaries of the fully employed and deprofessionalize the industry.
The major problem here is that pilot professional associations do not license their practitioners. There is obviously no social contract with the state, which is what medical doctors clearly have: the state grants them a legal monopoly over the provision of certain services, they agree to police and enforce credentials and licenses: if you practice surgery without a license, the state can, and I hope will prosecute you. Leaving aside the question of state interest, and most of us would agree that the state has a compelling interest in preventing an amateur from performing surgery, but does not have a compelling interest in preventing some pilots from working at very low salaries, there is not even an extra-legal licensing system overseen by the professional associations on behalf of their own members. Nor is there likely to be one, and probably shouldn't be.
The problem with weak and ineffective professional associations, emasculated by the actions of a few, is that they can only hope to achieve an amelioration of horrible working conditions (low wage, lack of benefits) -- from really bad to not quite as bad -- without addressing the broader problem of deprofessionalization..
