Well paid KLM pilots think about strike: article

[act700]

ErwinS, you're obviously missing the point! And that's why you're on the "complaining end".

Good for you, KLM guys n gals. Respect for standing up and trying to stop this race to the bottom.

Originally Posted by ErwinS

Read between the lines. I dont want 10K a month. Fact is that pilots are overpaid compared to most suporting staff. But still they think they are flying Gods and think the whole airline turns around them.

But since most of the posters are pilots..... Think they disagree...

[cactusbusdrvr]

Originally Posted by ErwinS

Pilots..... God's own creation. 10g net is unbelievable much. What do you think the ground engineer gets a month? If he gets 3000 its a lot. They do the work, 40hrs a week. Weekends, nights. And you guys complain. The arrogance...

Then what are you doing on an aviation web site? Go troll somewhere else. Flying takes a specific set of skills. We get paid what the market allows. It takes a lot of training and a lot of experience to do the job properly. I spent many years slogging around in heavy pistons and turboprops before I had a jet command. And thousands of hours working for a low cost carrier at less than industry standard salary before we were able to merge into a group that finally made big enough profits to pay top rates. Timing and market forces change in this business. You make what you can while you can.

We make a lot more money in the US compared to what EU pilots are making but we don’t have the social benefits that Europeans have. My retirement is based solely on what I put into my 401k savings plan, along with my employers contribution into that same fund. Only in the last few years has that been more than 6%. I fly a jet that carriers over 300 people. I expect to get paid a substantial sum for doing that. That’s the market and that is the job.

[fox niner]

Allright, now back on-topic. Which is NOT the money that klm pilots receive. As global global said, the salary part has been agreed upon months ago.
It is about the systematic attempt by management, in particular the COO, to break the grip that we have concerning our lives. The supervisory board has sent our directors on some sort of mission to “end the position of the pilots once and for all” and start the race to the bottom. And that is dangerous, particularly because our COO knows exactly what to do. He has been the front man of our pilots union about 15 years ago. He knows all ins and outs. So when we ended up donating millions and millions from our pension fund, and reduced our pay by 15% in 2015, the executives and management thought they were on the right track.
Now we are here. On our way to the bottom, with a klm workforce and the gutter press that is being used as an angry mob against us.
The seniority list is very important. Without it we can be split up. No way. And klm “forgot” to hire ANY new pilot between july 2015 and january 2017. That is a management mistake with huge implications, particularly in a seniority system. Unless if it was done so on purpose. To put the pressure on.
So ulimately it is about long term visions. Do the legacy carriers need LCC’s as an ulimate target? The Chinese model of DEC’s? Would be a lot cheaper for klm. We will see.

[Rated De]

How about a little purchasing power parity comparison?

A Malaysian Airlines pilot on average earned in 1998 USD$50,800 whilst a pilot at Qantas earned USD$114,600. Suffice to say taxes and cost of living adjustments may well find the Malaysian pilot has a better standard of living.

During Qantas' 'terminal decline' the ever over compensated Alan Joyce claimed an A380 pilot earned more per hour than he did. Of course it ignored the fact that his compensation 'package' was more 'incentive than base' Conveniently it also ignored the duty hours worked, didn't refer to which pilot it was (Chief pilot??) nor did it clarify that it took thirty years to maybe get the job..

[pax2908]

Originally Posted by fox niner

... and the gutter press that is being used as an angry mob against us

What's a good way of dealing with the "angry mob". Just ignore? (Why do I care? Because I also do not want this race to the bottom, cost cutting, unhappy people).

[Glassos]

Originally Posted by Global_Global

What really hurts an airline like KLM is that the seniority system doesnt allow DEP and so although they have a pilot shortage and a training capacity issue they can only have new hires at the bottom of the list and have to retrain them... So any new hire that might be rated and up to their standards might have to do a new TR on a different "start" type and thus creating more of an issue from a training perspective...

I guarantee that if you were on any reputable seniority list, you'd disavow those stupid comments. Seniority lists protect pilots from those who never 'made it' and would undercut the hard-fought-for compensation package.

Do it the right way, not the easy way. Join at the bottom of the list and work your way up!