Thanks, Captain, far too many ad hominem posts for such an important subject.
Now for my own two cents- as a business professional it never ceases to amaze me how boneheaded most airline managers seem to be. What kind of mindset allows them to spend thirty million bucks on a plane then be skinflints with the guy who's driving it? In any other industry the smaller the labour component vs. revenue, the more you can pay. A few grand extra each year for the fella in the pointy end translates into a few pennies more from each customer, so why risk wrecking the whole operation over it?
I can understand FR's concern for their investment in training, but other industries have adopted a fairly simple solution to the problem of turnover- make it worth their while to stick around! There are plenty of ways to protect the investment in training their pilots that don't need to cost any more than bonding. They claim the training costs 8,000- so give the pilot a 2,000 raise in year one and 6,000 in year two. So you pay him 8,000 more by the third year but if he stays on, but then you'll have to pay that to train a replacement if he leaves, plus you've got a pilot who's more inclined to work his butt off for you. Or maybe you could pay a bonus after 3 years, or offer stock options, or... well you get the idea. As it is, I can guarantee that a significant number of Ryanair pilots will be outa there almost immediatly after they've done their two years- surely management isn't expecting this recession to still be on in 2004?
Finally, anyone who's ever seen any of my posts is aware that I'm no fan of trade unions but this company is begging for one. They might be okay for now but they can look forward to lots of labour trouble once the economy picks up.