I have to say that I feel Nick NOTOC has been somewhat misrepresented. He has stated that he personally is happy with the TRSS deal. However loathesome that may be to readers here, that is notheless his position. I do not see TRSS as the end of the world and as Bloggs2 has said, he cannot complain because he knew what he was signing up to. TRSS is merely a refelection of market forces and you only need to see what is happening with Astraeus, Jet 2, Ryanair etc to realise that easyJet must do the same or they will not be able to compete. Both Ryanair and easyJet are facing a critical shortage of pilots and therefore they are both being forced to offer DEP slots when they would rather use TRSS - once again market forces in operation. Many people are using the LCCs as a stepping stone to 'better things' -whatever that means to each person. For me personally, easyJet has been a great deal, but I would be the first to recognise that it has not been an even playing field - there have inevitably been winners and losers. Incidentally, I am not under any illusion as to the unreasonable nature of most airline managers - they are simply not in the business of being good to their employees. My own view is that being good to your employees makes good business sense but that view is not shared by the people that count!
I personally believe it is completely unreasonable to expect someone who has a solid job offer with a company like easyJet to turn it down to fulfil someone else's altruistic motives or because someone else's conscience is awoken to the apparent injustice of the situation! This is supply and demand - easyJet is offering a deal, and however unpalatable it may be, that is the deal on the table. This is like puting the bell on the cat - there was never any shortage of mice thinking it was a great idea but there was a huge shortage of mice willing to do it. The undoubtedly sincere misgivings of people on this forum about the disgrace of TRSS are not sufficiently great that they themselves will turn down jobs in aviation and go on the dole instead. Nor should we reasonably expect anyone who has a chance to fulfil their life's ambition turn down the opportunity because someone else dislikes the terms and conditions associated with the deal. At the end of the day, this is a matter for personal conscience - I could never blame someone for grasping the opportunity to become a pilot. In all honesty, there is not a single person on this forum complaining about TRSS who is willing to lift a finger to change it. By lifting a finger I am not talking about a few 'wise words' on PPrune - I am talking about genuine personal sacrifice such as a strike. That being the case, there really can be no complaints about someone who accepts the deal when necessity demands it. Whether it is a good deal or not for the industry overall.....well that's another matter!