In recent news, airline pilots for American, United, and South West are starting to push back on the major U.S. carriers as pilots want better work/life balance as well as wage increases. Delta Air Lines was the first of the major U.S. airlines to come to an agreement with the pilots union. Delta's union contract will be a wage increase of 34% over the next contract life. Pilots from other major airlines such as American and United will expect their contracts to be similar to Delta's if not better.
According to the article from Reuters, Delta, American, United, and South West are expected to hire around 8,000 pilots; the U.S. is down roughly 10,000 pilots across the entire country. One new thing I learned from this, it the Railroad Labor Act makes it harder for union members to strike who are part of the airline and railroad industry. The Railroad Labor Act covers railroad and airline workers. In order to ensure that commerce is not affected, the Railroad Labor Act is governed by the National Mediation Board.
Singh, R. K. (2023, March 1). Delta pilots ratify new contract, raise “the bar” for Rival Airlines. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/delta-pilots-ratify-new-contract-union-2023-03-01/