National seniority list.
In the airline industry, our lives revolve around seniority. Everything is based on they seniority system. Schedules, pay, vacations, QOL (quality of life), furlough order and aircraft you fly are the bulk of what your seniority number (SEN #) governs. At every airline, you are given a SEN # the day you are hired. Your life then revolves around that number for your entire career at that airline. The one glaring issue I see with this system is that when you leave your airline for "greener" pastures, you have to start over again from ground zero. Or in the case of pilots from now defunct airlines, ATA, Skyway, Champion, Aloha, just to name a few, they had built up significant careers, paid their dues and had gotten used to a certain lifestyle. Now these pilots are forced to start over from the bottom. Why? Because of the seniority system currently in use. A national seniority list could have mitigated this major down slide.
The second glaring issue that pilots are facing today is the division within the ranks. ALPA is our national pilots union, yet they do not operate like a national union. We are divided into separate pilot groups depending on who we work for. While ALPA may represent my carrier, they also represent carriers that are in direct competition with my carrier. It creates a rift between pilot groups. It used to be in years past that ALPA would be representing one pilot group (group A) in contract negotiations, they would be trying to help group A, but in their efforts, they would be hurting another pilot group (group B). Then when it came time for group B to negotiate, the company would say "group A agreed to this, therefore you need to agree to this". And so the race to the bottom started. A national seniority list could have mitigated this down slide.
While I respect ALPA for all they have done over the years, times have changed. The industry has changed. The single carrier seniority system is archaic and needs to change. If we pilots are to do anything to take back our profession, we need to change how things are currently run. I want to make an example of how our current system fails the pilots. I'm going to use NASCAR as an example. In the world of NASCAR, the drivers are professional (pilots). They have worked hard to build their experience driving in the lower echelons of racing and eventually worked their way up to the big show. Now that they have made the big show, they sign a contract to drive for specific race teams (airlines). They drive for this team for the required amount of time and at the end of the contract, they can either be re-signed or leave for another team. For example, Dale Jr recently completed a contract and then decided to switch teams. Now when he did this, he didn't have to go back to racing go-carts, he didn't go back to square 1, no, he slid right into the same position he vacated, only at a different company.
Now lets plug an airline pilot into that equation. Lets say a 20 year 767 captain for American who lives in Chicago wants to move to Atlanta, yet not commute. Delta is an airline based in Atlanta, they also fly 767's. In today's world of single carrier seniority, if that AA captain were to leave AA for DAL, he would go back to square 1 as a brand spanking new FO. In today's system, that kind of move is virtually impossible. Nobody in their right mind would make that kind of move. A national seniority list can mitigate that kind of down slide.
Now lets take that same pilot and put him on a national seniority list. Because he has been on the list for 20 years, all he would have to do is take a look at where he would be over on the Delta seniority list and based on his seniority and where he would sit, he can decide if a lateral move is feasible.
A national list would also unify the pilot groups we currently have. Imagine a union so strong and united that if even the smallest of regional carriers goes on strike, every single solitary plane flown by pilots on that list is grounded. Everyone from United and UPS all the way down to Great Lakes and Colgan, stopped flying. The days of companies dragging their feet for years on end during contract negotiations would be over. Companies would be forced to maintain a certain status quo or risk losing pilots to another company. The divide and conquer tactic now used by management would get tossed right out on the street. No more "well, if you take this concession, we will get brand new 777's, if you don't, they will go to our competition". Lateral moves within the industry would now be available. Mergers and the associated seniority list disasters would be a thing of the past. Stapling of pilot lists would never happen again. I know its just a pipe dream. I'm sure it'll never happen, but it would be nice.
The second glaring issue that pilots are facing today is the division within the ranks. ALPA is our national pilots union, yet they do not operate like a national union. We are divided into separate pilot groups depending on who we work for. While ALPA may represent my carrier, they also represent carriers that are in direct competition with my carrier. It creates a rift between pilot groups. It used to be in years past that ALPA would be representing one pilot group (group A) in contract negotiations, they would be trying to help group A, but in their efforts, they would be hurting another pilot group (group B). Then when it came time for group B to negotiate, the company would say "group A agreed to this, therefore you need to agree to this". And so the race to the bottom started. A national seniority list could have mitigated this down slide.
While I respect ALPA for all they have done over the years, times have changed. The industry has changed. The single carrier seniority system is archaic and needs to change. If we pilots are to do anything to take back our profession, we need to change how things are currently run. I want to make an example of how our current system fails the pilots. I'm going to use NASCAR as an example. In the world of NASCAR, the drivers are professional (pilots). They have worked hard to build their experience driving in the lower echelons of racing and eventually worked their way up to the big show. Now that they have made the big show, they sign a contract to drive for specific race teams (airlines). They drive for this team for the required amount of time and at the end of the contract, they can either be re-signed or leave for another team. For example, Dale Jr recently completed a contract and then decided to switch teams. Now when he did this, he didn't have to go back to racing go-carts, he didn't go back to square 1, no, he slid right into the same position he vacated, only at a different company.
Now lets plug an airline pilot into that equation. Lets say a 20 year 767 captain for American who lives in Chicago wants to move to Atlanta, yet not commute. Delta is an airline based in Atlanta, they also fly 767's. In today's world of single carrier seniority, if that AA captain were to leave AA for DAL, he would go back to square 1 as a brand spanking new FO. In today's system, that kind of move is virtually impossible. Nobody in their right mind would make that kind of move. A national seniority list can mitigate that kind of down slide.
Now lets take that same pilot and put him on a national seniority list. Because he has been on the list for 20 years, all he would have to do is take a look at where he would be over on the Delta seniority list and based on his seniority and where he would sit, he can decide if a lateral move is feasible.
A national list would also unify the pilot groups we currently have. Imagine a union so strong and united that if even the smallest of regional carriers goes on strike, every single solitary plane flown by pilots on that list is grounded. Everyone from United and UPS all the way down to Great Lakes and Colgan, stopped flying. The days of companies dragging their feet for years on end during contract negotiations would be over. Companies would be forced to maintain a certain status quo or risk losing pilots to another company. The divide and conquer tactic now used by management would get tossed right out on the street. No more "well, if you take this concession, we will get brand new 777's, if you don't, they will go to our competition". Lateral moves within the industry would now be available. Mergers and the associated seniority list disasters would be a thing of the past. Stapling of pilot lists would never happen again. I know its just a pipe dream. I'm sure it'll never happen, but it would be nice.
posted by Windsor at 4:37 PM
2 Comments:
Company A is well run, growing fast, hiring many pilots. They take over company B. Company B is poorly run and hasn't hired pilots for many years. So on your seniority system all the senior pilots of company B now flush out the junior pilots of Company A who have contributed to that company's success?
Hey, it's bad enough when that happened due to one union screwing the other in merger negotiations. Your system would institutionalize it! Nope - not for it.
Also is one year seniority on a Dash 8 equivalent to one year seniority on a B777? ...
Anyway, keep looking for ways to unite the pilots unions. Much needed imho!
I didnt say it was the perfect answer, but there has got to be something better than the status quo.
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