Many are smaller than people realize. Common sense is an issue here, certainly, but I perceive far too much emotion. Be pragmatic.
I was raised differently and taught not to burn bridges.
(most) Bridges have two ends. Unfortunately, pilots swim across when business burns their end.
Screw the company before they screw you is a terrible attitude. Probably why this industry is in the toilet.
The industry is in the toilet because companies are screwing people preemptively, with no fox given. When you hire someone for a job making $20k, reserve the right to jack them around, move them across the country and then terminate their employment whenever you feel like it, you don't get to cry rivers when they respond in kind.
If you pay your people well, treat them well (I'm not saying your company doesn't, mind you—I don't know who you fly for, so don't think this is directed at you... merely the industry as a whole), and treat them like true professionals, then you do have a right to expect professional behavior in return. Otherwise ... really?
For the record, I am a professional. I wouldn't leave my responsibility hanging in any situation, whether I was getting paid $25 to ref a mini-mite game, $120 to ref a college game, $125 to show up to give my student a mock oral, $150/day flying 135, $24.52/flt hour as a regional FO, or $160k as a systems architect... but that's how I
choose to be. I choose to enter into those commitments, and if I feel like I'm getting screwed, or the other party isn't adhering to their end of the deal, then I will exit them with proper notice... because that is who I choose to be.
However, from an objective point of view, employment is a simple business contract between two equal entities; one needs a job done, the other has the skills/equipment/knowledge/parts to do the job. Any concept of "loyalty" or "professionalism" is wholly one-sided, and is most likely being exploited by employers to their advantage. (That said, business
can be loyal to employees and vice versa. In those unique arrangements, it is appropriate. (And boy am I always happy when I see that in action... but it's rare))
However, my issue with your statement isn't really addressed in any of our dialog thusfar—my issue is that you single out apparently bad employees, and blame them for the downfall of the profession/industry, when in fact it's most likely a very mutual affair.
In the tech industry, it's not unusual to hire someone and then lose them a few weeks later to a better opportunity. It's annoying, but it's understood—that employee should have been paid more, or more money/effort should have been spent in some form of retention. Perhaps the working conditions weren't what they expected, the terms of employment sucked, benefits weren't good, or they didn't like the fluorescent lighting. In some way, it's recognized that the issue is the company's failure to retain, not a question of the loyalty of the employee.
Many segments of aviation is so riotously backwards in that regard that it harkens back to the turn of the century... and I don't mean the 21st.
My 9¢.
-Fox
