You Know, If You Did Not Treat Your Pilots Like Crap ………

The pilots at both United and Delta have voted to strike.

When one considers the labor dynamics here, the major airlines have been doing their level best to make their pilots as miserable as possible, it's no surprise that they voted to strike.

Also, given the shrinking number of pilots in the US Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps who are leaving the service to become civilian pilots, there is a shortage of trained personnel.

The negotiations between the United Airline pilots union and the airline will continue after pilots “overwhelmingly” rejected a tentative agreement that would have given them about a 15 percent raise over the next year and a half.

CNBC reports that nearly 10,000 of United’s 14,000 pilots participated in the vote, and 94 percent of them (about 9,400) voted against the agreement.

The Air Line Pilots Association said that the tentative agreement “fell agort of the industry-leading contract United pilots have earned and deserve after leading the airline through the pandemic and back to profitability.”

Now, the union says it will organize informal pickets to get United to come back to the table.

and for Delta:

Pilots at Delta Air Lines have voted to authorize a strike if negotiators cannot reach agreement on a new employment contract, their union said on Monday.

The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents nearly 15,000 pilots at the Atlanta-based carrier, said 99% of those who cast their ballots backed strike-authorization.

Under U.S. law, Delta pilots cannot walk off the job until the National Mediation Board grants them permission.

The board must first decide that additional mediation efforts would not be productive and offer the parties an opportunity to arbitrate. If either side declines, both parties enter a 30-day "cooling off" period, after which pilots and management can engage in self-help - a strike by the union or a lockout by management.

Both airlines, though they probably don't realize it, are at a disadvantage.  With the buy-outs and retirements during the pandemic, and a workforce at all levels that is less willing to work as scabs, there are simply fewer pilots to fill the planes.

One hopes that worker solidarity wins this time, and that the airlines are forced to spend their money on flying, and not stock buybacks and executive bonuses.