On Nov 26, 9:38 am, "Gatt" wrote:
"Panic" wrote in message

...

Yeah, and what do many non-pilots don't fully understand is that pilots
get paid for the hours they fly...not for the hours they work. In an 8
hour workday they may only get 4 hours of flight pay. Flight planning,
preflight, postflight, etc are not paid hours of work. $22.00/hour pay
rate (flight time) can translate to $11.00 an hour for actual working
time.

I'm curious as to why the airline pilots haven't all gone on strike to
demand better pay. Clearly, they can't be easily replaced or the airlines
wouldn't be scraping the bottom of the barrel for new hires. I learned
about supply/demand in Economics 101 but I'm sure the airline executives
know exactly what they're doing.

First, you can only strike if you are part of a union. Federal laws
give unions protections that allow them to gain excess benefits,
beyond what supply and demand allow for. In short, when a union is
involved you do not have a free market (the employeer has his hands
tied and his nuts in a vice).

Second, even a union (like a parasite) cannot kill its host. Most
airlines are on the edge of bankruptcy (if not already in bankruptcy)
so asking for more money would just kill the host. Today competition
in the market has made margins slim in the industry and the survivors
are those that can produce their profit for the lowest cost
(Southwest, Jetblue, etc). Asking your airline to increase its cost
structure to increase your pay can literally put it out of business in
today's market.

-Robert