BPM,
Don't shoot the messenger but according to base meeting i attended this brings us up to 2005 levels. The representatives presented us with all the facts and trust me it is 2005 level.
That said it's not enough.
Our reps get the figures together themselves. The problem is that we are consistently paired up with the worst paying companies like Cityjet. Our point was that we should be compared to Easy and Ryanair due to our workload. Yes i'm aware that a 146 does not have the same amount of seats as a 737 but we work just as hard with a 6 on 2 off roster (for the most part). If we are directly competing with the big 2 then surely we should be paid like them. Otherwise noone will stay at flybe. People can do a year with us, then go to Easy and on reaching 1500hours become an SFO and payback the flybe bond with the associated wage increase. I mean come on...who's your daddy?
As for negociation at the table surely we should all look to that pinnacle of virtue that is Andy Gilcrest. The Firemen went in with a rudicrous pay demand of (let's say) 100% and came out of it with 20%. Surely that's the way to do it. If we go in asking for 4.7% then the company will come back with 2% because (unlike Brian) they like to haggle. I should probable omit the words Gilcrest and virtuous from the same sentence as he was caught paying over £1,000 for lunch on his union credit card whilst his comrades were on the picketline (muppet).
As i said before i suggest you ask your base captain to try and arrange a balpa meeting at each base to air your views in person.
As for the 4.7%...we can reject it at ballot still. To do that means that every Balpa member has to vote. Apparently turn out is below 50%. 50% of 180 Balpa members means that 90 people actually vote on the outcome of our payrise.
If you want things to happen then more than 90 out of 300 pilots are going to have to take more of an interest in negociations. As citizen Smith was alluding to.....let's get political!