northern boy,
I don't really know. I would expect that those who came from the A340 will be OK, as thing stand. Those who were recruited directly on to the A320, and who would need a conversion (rather than refresher) course are likely to be poorly placed.
This is the text of a mess age I have sent to Chris Darke at BALPA (
[email protected] ):
Christopher,
on return from route today, and in conversation with a senior management pilot, I discovered that Virgin Atlantic is likely to press for a redundancy based on type qualifications rather than seniority. While they may well offer early retirement, voluntary redundancy, and unpaid leave as alternatives to certain sections of the aircrew community, they seem determined that the closedown of the classic fleet will also involve the disposal of aircrew not rated on the A340 or B744, regardless of seniority.
I understood that seniority was always to be the basis of decisions such as command, leave, privileges and redundancy, and that is why I have supported the continuation of this principle. I understand, however, that Virgin are claiming that no seniority-based agreement exists between the Company and the Balpa Crew Committee, therefore they may do as they see fit.
I have no doubt you will grasp what effect such a redundancy will have on the trust between the airline and its crews; no aircrew of however good record will have any protection by seniority at all. This will not escape the attention of the other airlines if it is allowed to go through.
The memory of the Dan Air injustice when 60-odd 737 pilots were retained by BA out of seniority order has not been forgotten. I hope we can have your assurance thet you will not let such an injustice happen again.
I, and many others, would be grateful if other BALPA members would send their own thoughts to BALPA about this potential disaster.