X11, you say that " Just because you were desperate for a job once doesn't mean that you have to tolerate gross imbalance / injustice in T&C's for ever. "
well yes and no. I make the point again that you signed up to these terms. No one forced you to, and presumably you were aware that you were accepting terms and conditions that were inferior to those on offer in earlier days. It is hard to imagine you could have been unaware since the union was making a major issue of it at the time. You may recall that a compromise was reached that in part resulted in what is now known as the unified salary scale. If you were so desperate why didn't you take a job with another carrier who offered terms and conditions more to your liking ? you say that "Those that joined through CTC had little choice which carrier they were allocated to.". With respect those that joined through that scheme had very little experience in the main and were lucky and priviliged to be offered jet placements with levels of experience that in the past would not in all likelyhood have resulted in such placements. Many CTC cadet pilots have gone on to do very well and you probably now fly with some of them in command positions. Nevertheless in the past most F/O's traditionally were recruited from the Air force and as experienced pilots from other carriers. Perhaps a point worth remembering ?
Another point you bring up is concerning Final salary pensions and low cost operators. Monarch was historically an I.T/ charter airline with competitive indeed good terms and conditions during much of the last two decades. More recently it has become something of a hybrid, whereby a good percentage of its operation is now as a Low cost scheduled carrier, and the rest is in the traditional IT business within a much tighter and reduced marketplace. It has always been a business ( not a utopia, not a social service, and not a training scheme for the disaffected ). It has been a hard nosed business that has had to profit to survive. To profit it has like many other businesses had to adapt to remain afloat. In recent times that has meant adapting to the competition imposed by the single "LOCO" operators. You know the ones I mean, that include making their pilots pay for their training, their uniforms, medicals, assesments, interviews and sometimes even to read their C.V's. It is in this segment of the market that the terms and conditions are now being pitched.
Do I like it ? No not really.
Do I care ? Oh yes. I think it has significant potential problems for the near term future of the whole industry.
You state in respect of final salary pensions, that, "you will have no objection to me voting to scrap scale B and close the FS pension to future accrual at the earliest possible opportunity. Didn't think so.
" I am not sure what vote you are referring to, but what ever it is, you can vote as you see fit. Unlike you, I do not presume to speak for you. In an earlier reply I thought I had already made the point that the transformation process would likely be complete in another 10 to 15 years, and a significant swing to the ideas you suggest would be likely well before then.
The reason nobody suggested leaving rather than having to make greater contributions to the FS scheme is twofold. On the one hand the logic would be sufficiently tortured to arouse the attention of Amnesty International. Secondly my contract has no clause within it that prevents the FS scheme being altered or indeed wound up at some future date. I have never been under the illusion that I could not seek out better conditions elsewhere at any point in my career with the company. However it has been a solid business and has been fair to me as I have to it. I think that is probably the case with most people here.
You have an absolute right to seek to improve your terms and conditions by whatever means you see fit. If that means people move to other carriers then so be it. If it means people fight from within likewise. I make the point yet again that this is a business within a marketplace. It must profit to survive and it is still subservient to the basic economic laws of supply and demand determining price. Your irritation and annoyance however justified, is not in itself going to usurp the realities of economics or business. Nor is that same attitude vented against the people who have invested a major portion of their working lives in this business, going to garner much support for you. However you are right in that eventually your day will come and you will be in the majority. I hope that when that day happens the market forces are on your side.