The problem is ugly duck that alot of the Pilot work force are at the beginning of their careers and sign anything the company puts in front of them that sounds good. Now lets be honest anybody can make something sound good.
When you look at this latest scheme in detail it is very obvious what the company's problem is. Some of the troops are working just as hard as the likes of Easy and Ryanair and the company have to give extra days off otherwise the Pilots hours would be hitting their limits every week. The company have been forced to come up with a stable roster pattern like the other low cost carriers because the present system is not working due to crew hours.
Why do you think Flybe want more pilots to go part time? 5 on 5 off is a con with no limit on hours. Will those guys get 3 days off in a row? I don't think so. They just loose leave days and work the same hours. This is the biggest stitch up I have ever seen and you guys fell for it. The ops director is a very clever man.