Irrelevant if the DOL continues to classify a group as unskilled labor. It's that designation they need to advocate to change. Otherwise as a whole employers will look to BLS reports to gauge what a person should be compensated in a particular job. And according to BLS the average Aircraft Mechanic makes $24.00 per hour of $48,000 per year. The market sets the rates especially outside of a collective bargaining situation.
But I think you should bring this conversation over to the Maintenance thread where they will argue and cajole the facts to death without ever lifting a finger to attempt to change them.
Again this is a Fleet thread and the other group makes it a point on here to state that they don't want to talk to any of us or read our opinions if we're not a part of their Country Club.