In ongoing contract negotiations, pilots at major airlines are pushing for changes in scheduling, to allow for more time at home and fewer missed birthdays and other celebrations.
United Airlines pilots participate in a picket line at Washington Dulles International Airport on May 12, 2023. Ahead of a busy summer travel season, they're asking for higher wages and also quality of life improvements.
Such protests have been staged at airports all across the country in recent weeks, as United, American and Southwest airlines have all been engaged in contract talks. Quality of life issues have taken center stage.Negotiations actually began in 2019, but the pandemic delayed any increase in pay for years. Then, Delta pilots secured a 34% raise on March 1 and United and American have said they will match that.
But Captain Dennis Tajer, a 30-year veteran of American Airlines and spokesman for the union representing 15,000 pilots at American, says a pilot shortage has made things worse. Since then, they've been hiring furiously, but pilot training is a slow, lengthy process. There aren't actually enough pilots to train newcomers, because they're needed in the skies.To meet demand, American is giving pilots tighter schedules, less buffer time around flights and more nights away from home, Tajer said.
Airline management has acknowledged that both workers and customers have been through a lot lately, as demand for travel has outstripped supply. Regardless, he is advising companies to reassess how they schedule workers or else risk problems finding talent.
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