Still on the Job, but at Half the Pay

[groovedaddy]

MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — The dark blue captain’s hat, with its golden oak-leaf clusters, sits atop a bookcase in Bryan Lawlor’s home, out of reach of the children. The uniform their father wears still displays the four stripes of a commercial airline captain, but the hat stays home. The rules forbid that extra display of authority, now that Mr. Lawlor has been downgraded to first officer.

He is now in the co-pilot’s seat in the 50-seat commuter jets he flies, not for any failure in skill. He wears his captain’s stripes, he explains, to make that point. But with air travel down, his employer cut costs by downgrading 130 captains, those with the lowest seniority, to first officers, automatically cutting the wage of each by roughly 50 percent — to $34,000 in Mr. Lawlor’s case.

The demotion, the loss of command, the cut in pay to less than his wife, Tracy, makes as a fourth-grade teacher, have diminished Mr. Lawlor, 34, in his own eyes. He still thinks he will return to being the family’s principal breadwinner, although as the months pass he worries more. “I don’t want to be a 50-year-old pilot earning $40,000 a year,” he said, adding that his wife does not want to be married to a pilot with so little earning power.

In recent decades, layoffs were the standard procedure for shrinking labor costs. Reducing the wages of those who remained on the job was considered demoralizing and risky: the best workers would jump to another employer. But now pay cuts, sometimes the result of downgrades in rank or shortened workweeks, are occurring more frequently than at any time since the Great Depression.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/business/economy/14income.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

[TwilightGardener]

1. His wife sounds like a real winner--"doesn't want to be married to a pilot

with so little earning power". "For better or for worse" must mean nothing anymore.

[rubberducky]

3. He said that not her. Sounds like that is just the way HE feels.

Losing your job is kind of like losing who you are. When I was told that my job was "terminated", in a way it was like I was terminated too. I totally understand how he feels.

[TwilightGardener]

4. How do you know she didn't say as much? My husband would

never say "my wife doesn't want to be married to me because I earn too little" even in our poorest times--if only because that would reflect very poorly on my character. Edit to add: I know women who won't stay with a guy who doesn't earn enough for the lifestyle they want.

[rubberducky]

6. The quote is attributed to him.

I find it hard to believe that any life partner could say something so mean, but I guess sadly that you could be right.

[PassingFair]

8. My husband hasn't made more than $12,000 a year in 6 years.

We used to bill $150 to $180 thousand a year.

He's a graphic designer and illustrator.
I want him to start doing something - ANYTHING
else...he refuses to work "outside his field".

I feel their pain.

[barb162]

20. That doesn't pay well at all these days

I know a few people in the field and they are lucky the are employed with benefits.

[girl gone mad]

10. If you read the article..

she actually doesn't seem to think that. But don't let reality keep you from going with a good sexist stereotype.

[TwilightGardener]

11. Nothing sexist about it. Some men don't want to stay married to their wives

if X or Y happens, and it's the same for some women. He didn't say "I wonder if she is disappointed in me" or "I hope she isn't upset about my earning potential". He said, "She does not want to be married..." Why should we doubt that assertion?

[girl gone mad]

16. Because in the article she says..

she would rather have him working close to home at lower pay than take a higher paying position that requires a long commute. She says very clearly that she values time with him over money.

[Statistical]

9. She may never have said that... he could just be projecting...

Saying what HE thinks SHE is thinking/saying.

I know when I took a paycut and made less than my wife it stung. I felt like a failure as a husband. Now I know it is sexist and it is illogical but at the time that is how I felt. Men are conditioned pretty much from birth that they are the provider and having that role taken and taken with a paycut is tough to bear.

[Hello_Kitty]

22. Maybe she wants him to stop being a pilot if he's being paid so little for such a dangerous job

Maybe it's not a comment on the marriage, or him, but on the job.

I just saw Michael Moore's movie last night and was appalled about what's happening with pilots. Pilots are telling their own kids not to go into the profession.

[izquierdista]

2. "any time since the Great Depression"

Now people are getting first hand experience with how "Great" it was. Enough of these comparisons, and soon it will be difficult to tell them apart.

[imdjh]

5. I understand that their lifestyle was probably scaled for expected continuity.

But a family income of at least $69,000 (his 34k plus her more than 34k min) isn't poverty or adversity.

They bought their house a year ago for 280K so at $69K they are slightly above the maximum norm for mortgage to income ratio.

[Berry Cool]

12. True, but if she loses her job, they're in trouble.

I feel for the guy, not so much his macho pride, but because he's been "demoted" at his job for no other reason than to save money. I also think it's a crime how little commercial pilots are being paid these days. These people are repsonsible for keeping us alive and safe when we fly, and they're making $30K or below a year? What's wrong with this picture?

[imdjh]

13. The military is paying considerably more than that.

So there must be a glut of pilots at the moment.

I do have a bit of a problem with the notion that a pilot should make a certain amount of money for "keeping us alive and safe when we fly". A bus driver has the same responsibility. A nurse may not be responsible for as many people at once, but she's actually more likely to be involved in a life or death scenario in her skills.

Really what it boils down to is that commercial pilots commanded exception salaries when the industry first took off after WWII, and when pilots were primarily trained by the US military. Now all three branches have their own pilots, commercial airline schools turn out pilots, and we're in a downswing for need. Why should pilots be exempt from the market?

[CoffeeCat]

14. I find that...jaw dropping...

A family income of 68k, and they purchased a 280k house? I think that's incredibly irresponsible.

Their house payment would be around $1,900 per month, if they have a 30-year mortgage.

68k, they're probably bringing in around $4,500 per month. Their house payment is roughly 45 percent of their take home!

If those numbers hold--that is not smart. I think there are too many people who purchased too much
house---at all income levels. I don't care what government or bank charts say is acceptable. Banks
purposely try to cajole people into buying more house.

I find this frightening.

[imdjh]

17. I think they bought when he was still making full salary.

So I figured their mortgage payment, PITI, at about $1700/mo which at the time would have been about 20% of monthly gross.

[cabluedem]

18. 280k for new home is a fairly normal price in California. nt

[pokercat999]

19. Their home was purchased from his parents and it was in

Richmond, VA suburbs. I live nearby, 280K is just a normal three bedroom home about 2000 sq ft in a middle class neighborhood in central VA. There are lots of up-scale neighborhoods with prices starting at double what they paid. Although in the last two years prices here have tumbled like elsewhere.

[Hello_Kitty]

23. A) Home prices were going through the roof prior to last year

B) Paying 45% for housing hasn't been unusual at all for the past several years, since wages have not been rising at the same pace as inflation. C) Mortgage lenders and real estate agents were engaging in high-pressure tactics to convince people they could afford big homes and take out huge mortgages. Remember that we were all being told that houses were "a great investment!" and "you're crazy to rent!"

[pscot]

7. Pity the same economic logic

isn't applied to the banksters.

[Hello_Kitty]

24. Oh but noooooo! We can't pay them less!

We'll lose their "talent"! And besides, we're supposed to tolerate inequality where bankers and their bonuses are concerned... :sarcasm:

[4_TN_TITANS]

15. Wow....

He makes what I do and I'm not nearly that skilled, just a lowly customer service rep.

[barb162]

21. He could be unemployed so he's lucky in many respects.

Just reading about the people who are living in the tunnels under Las Vegas and all....