In some ways it is quite gratifying to see old Ray in his true colours - old management with old ideas bringing about old conflicts with old plans to fill his own pockets at the expense of the people who actually made the profit. In short he is yesterday's man who is shortly to be consigned to the dustbin of obscuirty. Sadly he will be leaving with a large chunk of our money in his pocket - such is the nature of corporate greed.
Webster's outrageous statements should be a huge catalyst to any wavering pilots about the need to join BALPA. There is simply no alternative. Once we have 70%+ membership we can then set about challenging the established norms of the way our negotiations are conducted and ensuring the staff share in easyJet's success. While Webster enjoys substantial financial rewards everyone else gets a pay cut - not for much longer! We have a real opportunity to challenge this. Ryanair may well make a lot more money per seat - they also spend over 15% of their takings on staff costs as opposed to 13.3% from easyJet. In other words old Ray, in keeping with his professional record to date, is barking completely up the wrong tree. Rather than take every possible opportunity to alienate his staff, he needs to recognise the enormous benefits of taking your people with you on the journey. The pilots would love to work with management to create a company where everyone benefits from easyJet's success rather than just 'Ali Baba and the 40 thieves'!
Time will tell if Andy Harrison is going to follow in his footsteps. Mind you, we are not likely to forget dear old Ray as we've just spent some more of our profit painting a huge 'Ray Webster' over the front of one of our 737s. Good job there's no waste at easyLand!
Last edited by Norman Stanley Fletcher; 24th November 2005 at 20:26.