The point is EVERYONE has job options. They just might not involve flying. Pilots limit themselves WAY too much.
You want to support your family, get OUT of the cockpit and and take a 9-5 job somewhere.
The bottom line is we're all too lazy because we're used to this lifestyle. So we'd rather work for $95 an hour and insure that everyone else's wages is driven down to our rate.
That is a fair assessment, and I agree.
The problem is, how does one retrain for a job outside this industry with the schedule of this job? Unless you have a great paying job, you're just making ends meet, so unless you have a significant other with a substantial income, you're stuck. Losing your house and sticking your family on the street isn't an option.
I don't think a non-union shop is the main issue. I think the bigger issue is people that are there don't improve their lot. That is a universal truth. The legacies didn't get the pay, work rules and benefits because of the name on the side of an airplane. They got their lifestyle because pilots, like your dad undoubtedly, fought for them.
Every carrier started out non-union. It can go either direction. You can have a bad deal like Capt. Caucasion working for PACE, or it can spin into the places we admire to work.
I sit at the bottom of a second tier freight carrier's seniority list. I was turned down by two of the top carriers prior to accepting this job. Now I sit and wonder how long will I have the job. As I survey the landscape, I see my options should I get furloughed.
1) Leave flying, eat up my entire lifesavings and retirement while I train for a new career and get established in it. Since, like most pilots, I'm trained for a specific task, and the job market is getting flooded with specialty trained people with experience from layoffs.
2) Work for a union shop carrier that's hiring. That appears to be Great Lakes (17k first year), Mesaba? (20 some K/yr)
3) Non-Union Carriers - Southern ~ 40k first year
- Allegiant
- Emirates ~ 10k/mo
I'll agree that working for a non-union shop is not my #1 option, but if it comes down to feeding my family and keeping my house, I'll choose Allegiant over commuting to DEN to fly a 1900 (no knock to anyone who does it) or moving to the sandbox.
Would I stay there? No, I'd try to get out, but at the same time, I'd try to improve my lot while I'm there. If it involves sticking my neck out to organize, like some of our fellow JC members did at CJC, then so be it.