I have been following this thread with some dismay, the pilot-management rancor reflected in some of the remarks is dismal to say the least.
If I have read Jill McDonald’s statements correctly, there is in existence a binding contract signed by all parties which prevents management from implementing voluntary redundancies, in exchange for pay freezes. If this is indeed the case, Aer Lingus management has taken the first steps down a precipitous legal and public relations path from which it will not emerge unscathed. Unwise, blindly arrogant in the extreme, a most worrying symptom of the incipient death spiral.
It is widely accepted that companies must expand and contract in response to changing market conditions. In this part of the world, such as it is, those pilots at the bottom of the seniority list are furloughed, they keep their individual seniority numbers and are hired back into the company based on that seniority as conditions improve. A small few companies have even shown concern to those particular employees by allowing them to keep their travel benefits, something which costs the company nothing, and contributes immeasurably in mitigating the painful loss of work and pay by leaving the ex-employee with a sense of belonging and hope for the future.
Management, in collusion with the senior pilot group (as evidenced by the deafening silence from same), seem to be leaving themselves the option to selectively rehire, which if true would amount to nothing more than a blatantly transparent, shameful and sycophantic ‘house-cleaning’ operation, one which already appears to be causing animosity of the most willful sort. Is anyone really surprised she went public with this?
When you fight for yourself, Jill, you fight for all of us. Courage, M’Lady, cowards are a dime a dozen, the race goes to the brave.