Australian Airline Pilot: Respected Profession or 'Noose around your Neck'
 

Over the course of several years, Australia has witnessed a gradual decline in pilot wages and quality of life, leading to significant concerns and discussions within the aviation industry - albeit not in the corporate C Suites.

Today, pilots in Australia are facing an even more challenging environment characterised by stagnant or declining incomes in the face of record corporate profits, prompting debates about the sustainability of the profession and its potential long-term implications. The ongoing discussion surrounding pilot wages reflect the complex interplay between market forces, industry dynamics, corporate greed and the aspirations of those who play a crucial role in ensuring safe and efficient air travel across the country and abroad.

As expected, the ATO just released a scathing insight into the state of the profession while releasing their 2020-2021 % Payrise data: ‘Noose around your neck’: ATO data reveals Australian jobs with the biggest pay rises

"But if you’re a pilot (19 per cent pay cut) or a cleaner (0.5 per cent pay cut), your situation is much worse. The rising price of rent, groceries and fuel probably feel like a noose around your neck."
"Pilots and aircraft mechanics had a shocking year because of course the airline industry was profoundly disrupted by Covid lockdowns."
"Sportspeople also had a bad year, accepting Covid-driven pay cuts. They have bounced back since, while some other types of jobs are in more of a long-term downward spiral."
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Covid was especially tough on the airline industry worldwide, but as noticed from our peers, they are all catching up now with most exceeding where they would've been - this as they get to share in the successes and prosperity of the airlines they work for. Some will say it is market forces, but most operators in Australia, except for Qantas mainline, are already looking outside our borders to fill operating seats.

The US majors are signing significant multi-year Pilot Annual Pay Increases, this while they themselves are not (yet) recruiting from outside their borders - the smaller airlines and regionals are already doing this yes.
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With EBA's currently under negotiation and others soon to be commenced, it is prudent to understand the state of play here - Is it financial survival or mere corporate (read C Suite) greed, this while simultaneously destroying the most regulated profession in the world.

To answer this, let's compare the financial situation of some of those US airlines listed above to those closer to home - then decide for yourself if your profession is respected, or a 'Noose around your Neck' as the article infers.

Net Income: The amount an individual or business makes after deducting costs, allowances and taxes. Net income is what the business has left over after all expenses, including salary and wages, cost of goods or raw material and taxes.

Forecasted Figures 2023
American Airlines: Revenue 52.7bn USD vs Net Income 1.89bn USD = Net Profit Margin 3.59%
United Airlines: Revenue 52.7bn USD vs Net Income 2.98bn USD = Net Profit Margin 5.65%
Delta Airlines: Revenue 54.4bn USD vs 3.27bn USD = Net Profit Margin 6.01%
Southwest Airlines: Revenue 26.6bn USD vs Net Income 1.70bn USD = Net Profit Margin 6.39%
Air New Zealand: Revenue 6.34bn NZD vs Net Income 426mn NZD = Net Profit Margin 6.72%

Qantas Airways*: Revenue 19.6bn AUD vs Net Income 1.72bn AUD = Net Profit Margin 8.78%
(*) Figures not updated for the 2.48bn AUD revised Net Income as reported


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If the world can manage another 18-24 months without a SARS-GFC-Bird Flu-Covid event then the pilot profession will really have the upper hand. If we decide to take advantage of it. Whilst there are airlines in Australia that do not supply crew meals, whilst EBAs are sometimes a decade old, then management is still taking a liberty. Show them how you feel at EBA time ladies and gents.

It's as easy as not screwing those below you. Bringing up the lowest paid pilot sets the benchmark for everyone.

It should be about ridding the industry of bin chicken airlines and getting every one of those deserving pilots working on the best conditions available….. then hammering some serious, overdue increases to those EBAs

Two EAs voted up by 80% plus of pilots, all self inflicted.

I think you are not standing back quite far enough. Things were not all that bad up until around the late 80s, although the Ansett amalgamation didn't help out promotion prospects for some time.

Abeles, Murdoch and Turbo Bowtie led the charge to eventual oblivion.

It has been all downhill since then. Unless, and until, the pilot group stands united, things are not going to improve to any extent. Is that likely to happen ? I suspect not anytime soon.

We can all whinge about Joyce and Co and the attitude towards the work force and lack of respect for the profession etc (I'm the worst culprit of this) but can you really blame them?
My question is what have we done to demand better? No one hands you respect you need to take it.

1.Sick of horrible rosters? How many times do you say "**** it, it's my kids birthday and you didn't give me the day off I'm going to call in sick anyway."
2. Scheduling to the limit with an expectation that you'll extend to get the job done. Do you say "We are fully boarded but no, I'm not extending I'm getting Off"
3. ****ty scheduling, hotels, meals, paxing in cattle class middle seats. How often do you go fatigued because of this?
4. PIA? At least JQ did it, but didn't follow through quick enough then COVID etc. Then for some reason we rolled over after covid. QF whinge about network etc, when was the last time you did anything about it? Ties and PAs don't count.
5. Network pilots doing days off for $$ that wouldn't get most people out Of bed etc and so many more examples...

The problem has always been if you don't bend over and take it someone else will. Perhaps finally there is a chance that the pool to choose from is emptying... But will we still roll over for a smacko and a belly rub? My guess is we probably will.
No one gets what they deserve in this world. You get what
​​​​​​you take. There is no room for weakness and for a bunch of fairly intelligent people, we are weak as ****.

I'm not so pessimistic, based on the discussions I've had with my colleagues, most are assertive about taking control of our future rather than resigning themselves to the continued decay of our terms and conditions.

"We" have to become stronger via our unions, and we have to actually vote for and take action. When I asked my colleagues (UK) why we didn't take a stand against working on Christmas day, my own colleagues were not interested and just told me it was what I had signed up for. Unbelievable.

If we don't fight and stand up for ourselves, the bosses will continue to walk all over us. They already have us paying for our own training and our initial type ratings - some even make their crews pay for their recurrent Sim tests and uniforms.

Look at UK train drivers - strong unions, strong member support, good Ts & Cs. Even (UK) truck drivers have better working balance than pilots, and the truck drivers have tachometers to check they are sticking to their correct breaks and schedules etc.

Nobody is going to suddenly improve our airline Ts & Cs except us.

I wonder if the American Pilots think of Australians as Bin Chickens!
Narrow body 475k and Wide Body 575k USD Captain figures posted with the new agreements compared to what we work for.
Comments apparently floating around- “Resign and go to America”, “The industry is different in America”, “We live in Australia not America” “You can Get let go if times get tough”, “ You cannot compare the salary in America to Australia”
IMHO with that sort of mentality Australia will continue to be a race to the bottom….
End of the day you always have a choice to Vote YES or NO with a agreement.
Look at the figures posted above with how far behind we are when you next think about voting in an agreement. :ugh:

Anyone else who didn’t go into the ‘profession’ for the money ?

beamer, you’re welcome to get flogged for below par pay, but I’d like to enjoy my job AND be remunerated according to my skill and expertise. As I am only an average pilot, I worked VERY hard to get where I did and spent a lot of money on training (pre-employment) to get where I am now.
PS I’m surprised tail wheel “liked” your comment.

…..and responsibility.

You bet we will.

Good old Oz. We all vote up these pissy agreements, then many just bitch and moan about the conditions for the coming years.

Team Virgin, balls in your court, how about you show everyone how it’s done. For a start, old base pay needs to be reinstated, that’s a given. Absolute non negotiable that one. I wouldn’t be accepting anything less than that plus 20%. But you will probably cave in at current base pay plus 3%. Happy to be proven wrong, although I’ve given up attempting to be proven wrong lately.

The engineers have the right idea. They realise they're trying to sell an airline so PIA is going to hurt them. At least they all stand together and take action. Just hoping the pilots will too. There is nothing positive about working at Virgin. There is no respect for pilots, the T's and C's are the worst of the major airlines, there is no career progression and no help for the many many commuters who got burnt during COVID. The airline needs a proper seniority list, needs pilots in the base they want to be in and needs T and C's improve. Without that they will forever be a stepping stone airline. VA need to be aiming for QF pay, not JQ. It's the same fleet, same network, same operation. Why not the same pay and career progression?

For the most part its the pilots that agreed to thier current conditions.
Individual reasoning or justification doesn't change the fact that you (collectively speaking) voted in favor of it.
In that regard I don't actaully blame airline management.

EAs are a game of high stakes poker in the case of Qantas pilots they well and truly had their pants pulled down.

beamer is merely stating the facts, I've never come across a pilot who took up the business because of the money on offer, no surprise that tail wheel liked the post, as do I.

What if the owners are happy to be a ‘stepping stone’ airline and just argue if you want QF pay go work for QF? What then?

PIA at the next EBA, that’s what!!!!

Absolute race to the bottom comment.

Have some respect for what we do day in day out I did not get into this Industry for conditions/pay to be on the decline.
I am sure others would agree, yes we love the job but the remuneration also has to be competitive otherwise why even do what we do.

For clarity Network was purchased in Feburary 2011 and PIA for LH started in November. A rather long bow to draw. I dare suggest there won't be ties and PAs next time.

And that is the problem for pilots you are then backed into a corner. The company may then also get PIA blocked legally. You only have to look at what QF have done at a IR level to know it is not as simple as PIA. You may even get locked out before it goes to PIA just as QF did for something as benign as wearing the wrong tie.

In some ways you are better off just sticking strictly to the contract and letting it all burn down around you as eventually the owners will then be forced to do something as all the customers start leaving because you are unreliable. However that requires pilots not to go above and beyond to save the day. Unfortunately that too can ultimately become a pyrrhic victory.

So why are you voting EBA's up that don't give what you want? The ball is in your court, grow a spine rather than bleat.

Yes. Don’t forget the CEO is expected to cash in up to $70m on her exit. Wouldn’t have happened without the VA front line teams. Stand up for yourself FFS.

So one guy thinks because its his son's birthday he is entitled to a day off. Another says he is entitled to christmas day off? in a 24/7 industry??? Really.. What about doctor's nurses, train drivers, and everyone working those days.....what makes you so special.

The fact that they get penalties to do it

Because they're on hourly rates of pay, not a salary, apples and oranges. Hourly rate can have its benefits, once earned 48 hours pay per day as an apprentice electrician while doing sea trials on a new ship, ostensibly on duty 24 hours per day which made it double time, then became a pilot on a salary Ggggrrrr. :{ :p

This attitude right here is what is wrong with pilots and our EBA’s. While office workers get the flexibility to wfh, take annual leave when they want, sleep in their own bed when they want, get job security and get consistent pay rises, your clinging on to the some old school belief that we should still be sacrificing our most important family events for a company that would get rid of us at the blink of an eye?

Every other worker has achieved greater flexibility and terms and conditions during COVID except for pilots. Yet you still expect us to be a charity with our dwindling terms and conditions for a company whose executives are some of the highest paid in the country?

Once upon a time a pilot could run a single income household where the partner could look after the family. With our current terms and conditions, that’s no longer possible. So yes, I will take off the important days to see my family/wife/kids unless I am given an incentive to do so otherwise.

Think it time for you to go to Specsavers Megan,
read your above comment supporting we did not get into aviation because of the money.

Maybe you are happy working for an unattractive contract but many others are not.

As for signing in rubbish agreements I have never voted Yes to one I think is rubbish.
Maybe you should grow a spine and try for a better contract rather than “not getting into aviation for the money”

Lot of workers miss important family events, companys where 24 hour production is required eg steel works, mining, I was engaged in an industry where two weeks away from home was the norm then two weeks off, someone had to work Xmas, depending on the luck of the draw you might miss the important family events eg sports days, birth days etc etc. One thing the modern crop of pilots seem to know how to do is bleat.

Great Story Megan!
Would have been better if you stayed in your previous profession because all you do is try and justify the pineapple Pilots have taken is justified.

The modern crop of Pilots seem to have realised conditions and pay have to get better otherwise what is the point!

Yep but those professions have stability and UPWARDS pressure on terms and conditions. Mining pay, rosters and living conditions have continually improved. They also have job security and and can move jobs freely without worrying about seniority. Pilots also have a lot more responsibility and the profession involves a hell of a lot more investment and sacrifice. It’s time to be paid appropriately otherwise this industry will continue to suffer.

Could not agree more!

Megan is an office stooge. Ignore her.

Women. Far too agreeable and too scared to stick up for what they're worth. Then they cry poor when men out earn them in industries where you have the ability to negotiate your Ts & Cs.

...try replacing country with most of the world :}

If your pilots are being fed pineapple it's because they seem to like the diet, it's they who vote the EBA. Our little group of pilots were under the AFAP until the union threatened to have Norm Gallagher of the BLF and his mates come sort us out (todays pilots probably too young to remember him and his union). Following the threat we dumped the AFAP and formed our own union, since all the negotiation with the company was by us anyway, the AFAP was just a rubber stamp to have what we had agreed with the company to be ratified.

You might want to review this somewhat incautious comment; take look at megan's contribution here (and elsewhere)...

... and while reasonable payment for your expertise is important I also appreciate those who simply do their work well out of pride, honour, and sense of duty, not just for maximum $$. I suspect that, apart from the sheer enjoyment of it, this is something megan, beamer and tailwheel may have in common.

It probably takes a few years to understand, and some may never get it, but rewards are not always monetary.

FP.

Unions are fairly useless without a large member base. After all that is what a Union is all about, the massed power of the workforce united vs the financial power of the corporation/company. With mass membership the union can provide legal power that equals what a corporation can muster. It is better to have a few very large unions with each company having it's own representation vs it's company than having 50 small disjointed unions for an industry sector. I think pilots forget that it is the internal pilot committees that should be deciding what is required from the company in industrial negotiations. The union just provides the finance/muscle to make it happen. Companies can pretend to negotiate with smaller groups because they are easier to manipulate over the long term, so they seemingly get their way, but could have achieved a lot more if the industry as a whole had proper representation.

Australian pilot wages and conditions directly reflect the fact that the union movement here is poor and misunderstood. Most people are brainwashed into thinking unions are militant and no good, and only a company based union will give you what you want... Just like believing individual negotiation leads to better wages... The Libs got you good....