Last Wednesday, October 30th at 2:00 p.m., the Spanish airline pilots union SEPLA held its talk “The defense of the pilot profession” in the Cuatro Vientos auditorium. The difference with respect to other actions of said union was that this time, instead of addressing pilots with jobs in airlines, it addressed pilot students who had not yet completed their training or who had just obtained their ATPL license. This talk essentially focused on the situations they could encounter once they entered the labor market, and the advantages they could obtain by joining SEPLA, offering free membership for all members who, like them, were in their first job or about to start one.
In addition, they spoke about their pilot support programs, such as the PAPI program, aimed at dealing with mental health problems that pilots may encounter in the course of their work without resulting in job loss, or the UAS+ program, focused on drone pilots, as well as campaigns against the elimination of the second pilot on board. And of course, the SEPLA representatives stressed the benefits that attendees could obtain by becoming a member, such as loss of license insurance, or better conditions for their medical insurance.
In short, it was a very useful day for all those who attended. At AEFA we believe that this type of information is especially beneficial for young pilots, since entering the labor market is the moment when a professional is still unaware of the particularities of the market, and belonging to a union independent of state aid such as SEPLA contributes to avoiding the precariousness of the pilot profession. We hope that communication between organizations such as SEPLA and the pilot schools in our country continues to be as fluid as it has been up to now.
