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A comment on Pilots Strike at Cargo Carrier Serving DHL, Amazon.com. Parent comment

Re:Pilots Strike at Cargo Carrier Serving DHL, Amazon.com by Pyxl101 on Wednesday November 23, 2016 @03:56AM (#13021188)
The scheme where pilots are paid more purely from working at the same airline longer seems like a big part of the problem here. Not the only part, but a big part.

Relevant: http://philip.greenspun.com/flying/unions-and-airlines

Based on what I understand of economics, I have to think that pilot unions are part of the cause of the problem here. By locking pilot compensation to number of years' service at the firm, firms are unable to compete with each other for pilot talent, and incentives are screwed up (like you quoted above). Pilots are also unable to compete with each other on compensation by changing firms.

I do not mean this as any kind of defense of ABX (I know little about this situation beyond what I've read in this thread), and I agree they are morally bound to meet their contractual obligations to their pilots, but at the same time perhaps they'd be able to hire more pilots in a sane way if the airline industry pilot salaries weren't all locked up by this arbitrary and stupid (from my position) years-at-firm requirement.

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Re:Pilots Strike at Cargo Carrier Serving DHL, Amazon.com by tehwebguy on Wednesday November 23, 2016 @07:26AM (#13022081)
Pilot unions seem like a good thing to me.

I don't want an underpaid, overworked pilot who will never be able to retire to fly a plane I'm in or over my house.

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Re:Pilots Strike at Cargo Carrier Serving DHL, Amazon.com by toomuchtodo on Wednesday November 23, 2016 @12:48PM (#13024263)
Never, ever fly a regional airline for this reason.

Disclaimer: I have a private pilot's license, and my flight instructor was working for a regional making less than $20k a year with a terrible, sleep deprivation inducing schedule. You don't make $100k as a captain for almost 15-20 years.

I agree that pilot unions and ruthless enforcement of labor protections are a good thing.

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Re:Pilots Strike at Cargo Carrier Serving DHL, Amazon.com by jdavis703 on Wednesday November 23, 2016 @05:21AM (#13021506)
A lot of the way the industry is structured is focused around safety. Perhaps there's concern that an escalating price war over pilots would cause airlines to skimp on costs like mechanics and maintenance?
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