Having just read the latest copy of 'Plane News', I was fascinated to read Ray Webster's take on the latest figures. To quote the man himself,
"Although we've made a profit it belongs to the shareholders, and they want to get a fair return on their investment. The average company on the UK stock market makes three times more profit than we do, and our current profit level is nowhere near good enough to justify long term investment by shareholders - they would be better off puting their money into better performing companies. We need long term investment to survive and grow, so we need to make more profit. As has always been the case, I trust that our people will work hard and be supportive of our approach to ensuring the successful future of the airline."
The last sentence in particular is clearly a thinly-veiled warning to the pilots over the current pay dispute and is fully in keeping with our CEO's take on the world. However plausible it would be to suggest that the profit belongs to the shareholders it is simply not the case - and the CEO knows it. Presumably if he really thought that he would feel constrained to turn down the vast bonus he will receive on his departure since that also comes from the profit - I suspect not! A part of this profit also belongs to 'our people' who created it through hard work and dedication - and that includes the pilots who are at the core of the easyjet operation.
In the statement quoted above the future of industrial relations at easyJet is revealed - big profits for the fat cats coupled to harder work and progressively smaller salaries for 'our people'. Fortunately for us, and for easyJet, Mr Webster is departing imminently and a chance exists to return to the values Stelios envisaged when he started the company. Instead of building an airline based on Southwest Airlines Ray Webster has established a company based on the classic recipie for industrial discord - corporate greed and stuffing the staff. As he has more time to contemplate life he might do well to reflect on why there is an issue of shareholder value. Maybe I could assist with a few pointers of where the money has gone. He may recall that it is not so long ago that 40 easyJet managers (RW being among them) were so taken with the deal they had done over the acquisition of GO that they awarded themselves £10 million to divide up between them. Alas, there was just not enough left for any of the easyJet pilots - such is life! Nonetheless the pilots worked progressively harder to make the company even more profitible. Clearly our managers were on the ball though as they bought 156 seater aircraft (which 98% of the time carry 150 people or less) but which require the employment of an extra cabin crew member on every flight. With 120 Airbuses that will eventually be about 600 extra cabin crew at about £9 million a year - no misuse of money there then. Then there was the decision to build 'easyLand 2' but unfortunately no one bothered to check that the floor would not hold the weight so a fortune was lost on a white (orange?) elephant. Then there was the loss of millions on the DBA fiasco - but what is a few million between friends?
If one were to to follow our CEO's argument to its logical conclusion it would seem entirely reasonable that the pilots, and indeed all other employees at easyJet should just be grateful for their jobs and rejoice at their good fortune to be governed by such great guys. Indeed the progressive reduction in their salaries to pay for all the managers' bonuses and shareholders dividends should be considered a privelege rather than a burden. The days are mercifully long gone where fat barrels sit in food-filled boardrooms looking out at the Poor House wondering how to get a few bob more out of Oliver and his mates.
It may come as a complete surprise to our managers that we actually aspire to go up in the world and not down. I know it is strange but that's just the way it is. In short if you think we will sit back and watch you line your own pockets on the back of our efforts you have another thing coming. There is a groundswell of opinion turning in favour of BALPA as the true intent of our managers to rob us blind has become clear. If you truly want 'the full co-operation of the staff in pursuit of the survival of the company', you would do well to recognise that it is the employees of easyJet who have put easyJet where it is today. The shareholders have a right to a share of the profit, but so do the employees of the company. The pilots are going to work hard at making easyJet the safest and most profitable airline in Britain - in return we expect our managers to ensure we are not rewarded for our efforts with a pay cut. We simply will not roll over and play dead while you take the fillings out our teeth. Through total incompetence our managers have set themselves on a collison course with the pilots which nobody wanted. The insulting nature of what has been offered, and the manner in which it has been done, has brought on a battle that the pilots simply cannot afford to back down from. In short we will categorically not be 'supportive of our approach' - we will fight it every step of the way.
A new broom approaches in the form of Andy Harrison, CEO designate - I just hope he has more grasp of how to make a company work than his predecessor. He will find that increasing the dismal 13.3% of the company's costs being spent on his staff will turn out to be a significantly better alternative to having a lot of aircraft sat on stand with no crews to fly them.