I found an interesting article on some problems with the seniority system used by most work groups at most US airlines, with special focus on the pilots at Delta and Northwest. Those airlines’ potential merger is on hold and potentially dead because their pilots can’t figure out how to play nicely together.

Seniority plays a role at my job, but it’s not quite as important. We bid for our work schedules and vacations by seniority once a year (don’t ask). Many of my colleagues look forward to the year they become senior enough to work the day shift or get Christmas off. The bottom 20 percent of the seniority list (I’m scheduled to rise above that threshold in May) are designated as “reserves” and aren’t guaranteed a consistent start time or the standard 6 on-3 off-6 on-3 off-6 on-6 off rotation that everyone else has. In addition, our pay is completely based on our job title and length of service, which is related to seniority. In other words, whether I’m a fantastic dispatcher or an average one, I get paid the same. Finally, when you’re in training, seniority within your class helps determine when you get to upgrade from Assistant Dispatcher to Dispatcher and work your own flights. It’s not a terrible system, and it seems to work fairly well for us, but I definitely see more value in rewarding merit rather than seniority.

I think part of the problem for seniority-based positions is that it’s difficult to fairly measure merit. Pilots spend most of their time flying throughout the system without a supervisor watching them. It’s just not practical to have that much oversight, which makes it difficult to evaluate which pilots are great and which are just OK. Similarly, I work with very little supervision. In fact, since I work overnight, the managers generally are not there when I’m there. They trust us and empower us to do the right thing, relying heavily on our good judgment. A chief sits with us once a year to review some of the policies and make sure we still know what we’re doing, but it’s certainly not a true performance evaluation like most employees at Headquarters receive. Right or wrong, basing pay on seniority keeps things simpler and keeps the unions happier.