Those who cannot see this for what it is must be young, naive or both.
This phone call to crewing after duty should not be accepted as the norm unless you are quite happy to have no life outside work at all.
Let me try to explain why.
In bmi (like many other airlines) pilots work very disruptive shift patterns, yet do not get the kind of days off one should be entitled to as a shift worker to recuperate and have some kind of normal existence outside work.
The seemingly innocuous phone call to crewing basically leads to a situation of perpetual standby. So for example, you thought you were on earlies tomorrow, now at the last moment you're switched to lates, or you're nightstopping or both. Say goodbye to any arrangements you may have made for a life after work.
It's not that the guys complaining are inflexible, or not willing to help the company out occasionally. It's simply that it's all take by the company and no give.
I repeat, this phone call just puts everyone on a semi-standby throughout their week's duty, making it so much more flexible for crewing and the company, and so much harder for the pilots to make any plans outside work at all.