A really interesting post.
A collective effort of HR/IR practice in the Western hemisphere has been to reduce the impact of organised (union) labour to secure increases to terms and conditions. The effect of lowering these terms and conditions was initially:
- Productivity (one person doing extra)
- Efficiency
- Fear
Nothing like a good 'retrenchment program' to motivate the work force.
Over time this fails to deliver the magnitude gains. Then came globalisation, where retrenchment let companies send whole work processes overseas at a fraction of the cost.
In aviation Ryanair was a leader of the reduced mutual obligation employment relationship: Contractors became the norm and the gig economy (of which Uber is one company) a derivation of that.
The problem with the Ryanair model is one extremely obvious flaw: Supply of pilots.
Ryanair internalised gains from reducing their mutual (employer) obligation, outsourcing retirement planning, leave and other functions to the 'self employed contractor'
The problem they now face, which is really amusing is that they are required to operate an RPT schedule with a 'gig' work force