Pilot Unions and Professional Bodies

In North America and much of Europe, airline pilots are usually represented by a pilot union, often called a pilot association. The union negotiates the collective agreement that sets their pay, rosters, seniority and working conditions, and it speaks for pilots on safety matters such as fatigue, accident investigation and occurrence reporting. National associations are federated regionally and worldwide, so that pilots have a voice with regulators from national authorities up to ICAO.

Alongside the unions stand professional bodies, which do not bargain over employment but promote standards, education and the standing of the profession. In the United Kingdom they include the Honourable Company of Air Pilots, formerly the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators (GAPAN), and the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Why pilots unionise

A pilot's working life depends on terms that no individual can negotiate alone: pay scales, rest and scheduling rules, how upgrades and bases are allocated, and what happens in a downturn. Where careers run on seniority, as described in airline pilot ranks, seniority and scheduling, a pilot's position cannot be carried to another airline, which gives pilots a strong interest in protecting it collectively.

Safety has been part of the motive from the start. BALPA was founded in 1937 to improve flight safety for pilots and passengers, in response to pilots' safety concerns at Imperial Airways. ALPA's first president, David Behncke, used the union's influence in Washington in the 1930s to secure legislation that made the profession more stable and promoted safety. Unions still give pilots a collective voice when they report hazards, question rosters or decline a flight they judge unsafe.

ALPA and BALPA

The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) was founded in Chicago on 27 July 1931 by United captain David Behncke and a group of fellow pilots, and Behncke served as its president from 1931 to 1951. It is the largest airline pilot union in the world, representing pilots at airlines in the United States and Canada, and is affiliated to the AFL-CIO and the Canadian Labour Congress. Each airline's ALPA pilots form a pilot group led by an elected master executive council (MEC), which negotiates that group's contract, while the national union provides specialist staff that the pilot groups share. Not every US pilot group belongs to ALPA: others are represented by single-carrier unions, such as the Allied Pilots Association and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, or by the Teamsters.

The British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA) is the professional association and registered trade union for UK pilots. It was formed at a mass meeting of pilots at the Greyhound Hotel in Croydon on 27 June 1937, and it is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress. Besides negotiating with airlines, BALPA campaigns on safety and regulation, notably on fatigue and flight time limitations.

National associations are grouped internationally. The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA) was formed at a conference of pilot associations in London in April 1948. Based in the United Kingdom until 2012, it now has its headquarters in Montreal, close to ICAO, where it takes part in technical work as an observer and presents pilots' views on standards. In Europe, the European Cockpit Association (ECA), established in 1991 and based in Brussels, represents the national pilot associations at EU level. It is a recognised social partner in the EU social dialogue for civil aviation: the European agreement on the working time of mobile workers in civil aviation, which it concluded in 2000 with airline associations and the European Transport Workers' Federation, was given legal force by Council Directive 2000/79/EC.

Collective bargaining agreements

A collective bargaining agreement (CBA), often simply the pilot contract, is the agreement between an airline and the union that represents its pilots. It usually covers:

• pay scales, per diems and credit rules for how duty and flight time are paid;
• scheduling rules: duty and rest limits, days off, reserve rules, bidding and roster publication;
• seniority, bases, vacancies, upgrades and transfers;
• vacation, sick leave, pensions and insurance;
• training, checking and the treatment of a failed check;
• furlough and recall, and protections in a merger;
• discipline and the grievance procedure.

Many contractual scheduling rules are stricter than the regulatory flight time limitations, which set minimum protections, not working norms. In the United States contracts also contain scope clauses, which limit the flying an airline may give to other carriers, for example to regional airlines flying under its brand, and so protect the jobs of the pilots covered.

The legal framework for bargaining depends on the country. In the United Kingdom an employer may recognise a union voluntarily, or the union may seek statutory recognition through the Central Arbitration Committee under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. Industrial action there is lawful only after a secret ballot of the members concerned and notice to the employer. In the rest of Europe bargaining follows national law, at company or sector level.

The Railway Labor Act

In the United States, labour relations at airlines are governed not by the National Labor Relations Act that covers most private employers but by the Railway Labor Act (RLA). Passed in 1926 for the railways, it was extended to airlines in 1936. It is administered by the National Mediation Board (NMB), an independent federal agency created by the 1934 amendments.

The RLA works in three ways that set airline bargaining apart:

• Representation is decided by craft or class across the carrier's whole system: all the pilots of an airline form one unit, and the NMB investigates disputes and holds the elections that certify their representative.
• Major disputes, over making or changing rates of pay, rules or working conditions, go through bargaining and NMB mediation. A contract never expires; it becomes amendable on a set date, and the existing terms remain in force, the status quo, while talks continue. A union may strike, or an airline lock out, only after the NMB has released the parties from mediation and a 30-day cooling-off period has passed. The President may then create a Presidential Emergency Board, which delays self-help further while it makes non-binding recommendations, and Congress can also intervene by legislation.
• Minor disputes, grievances over the interpretation or application of an existing contract, may not be settled by strike. They go to compulsory arbitration before system boards of adjustment set up jointly by the airline and the union, often with a neutral arbitrator chosen from panels the NMB supplies.

The design aims to avoid interruptions to transport, so negotiations over an amendable contract can take years with no right to strike. The status quo rule also protects pilots, because an airline may not impose new terms while bargaining continues.

Professional Standards Committees

Unions do more than bargain. A Professional Standards Committee handles conduct problems between pilots peer to peer, before they reach management. In ALPA's model trained volunteers mediate interpersonal and crew resource management conflicts, jumpseat disputes and similar issues; the process is confidential, neutral and non-judgemental. The principle is that peer intervention changes behaviour more effectively, in most cases, than discipline imposed by the company, and that some conflicts are better resolved away from the chief pilot's office.

Pilot unions carry much of the profession's safety work:

• Accident investigation. Under the NTSB's party system, the investigator in charge may admit organisations that can provide qualified technical expertise, and pilot unions regularly take part, lending line-pilot knowledge to the analysis (see accident and incident investigation).
• Voluntary reporting. The FAA's Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) is a partnership of the FAA, the carrier and the pilots' union; an event review committee evaluates each report, and an accepted report is dealt with by corrective action rather than enforcement or company discipline, except in cases such as intentional disregard of safety, criminal acts, substance abuse or falsification (see safety culture and occurrence reporting).
• Pilot health and support. The HIMS programme for pilots with alcohol or drug dependence is supported by the FAA, the airlines and the pilot unions. ALPA runs a pilot peer support network, and in Europe CAT.GEN.MPA.215 requires commercial operators to give flight crew access to a proactive and non-punitive support programme (see alcohol, drugs and medication).
• Regulation and standards. Pilot associations comment on rules on fatigue, licensing, training and security, nationally, through ECA in Europe and through IFALPA at ICAO.

GAPAN and professional bodies

The Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators (GAPAN) was founded in 1929 and became a livery company of the City of London in 1956. In February 2014 it received a royal charter and the title of Honourable Company, and it is now the Honourable Company of Air Pilots, known as the Air Pilots. Its members are professional and private pilots from many countries. It is not a trade union: it supports the education and training of pilots through flying scholarships and sponsorships, runs technical committees, advises on aircrew selection, recognises achievement through its trophies and awards, and gives independent advice to government, regulators and the media on safety, training and regulation.

The Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) is the other main British professional body. Founded in January 1866 as the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world and received its Royal Charter in 1949. It is a professional institution for the whole aerospace community, pilots included; members, fellows and companions use the post-nominals MRAeS, FRAeS and CRAeS.

The difference matters when choosing what to join. A union protects a pilot's employment and gives a collective voice with the airline; a professional body offers learning, networking, recognition and a voice in the wider aviation community. Many pilots belong to both.

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.