I agree totally with you apaddyinuk. I am pro flight and cabin crew and anyone that is proactive and passionate about their job and wishes to defend their terms and conditions. Divide and conquer works. We all work together yet somehow when it comes to the crunch lots of secret deals are made with flying crew while groundstaff look on in amazement, which isnt right either.
I am not going to go into final salary pensions... for instance a group of staff (the majority) who have 7 increments and often in my department work for 49 years 42 on top increment and then retire versus one department that has 24 increments for an fo and a further 24 for a captain so effectively one could hang on as a career fo for 30 years ending up on pay point 24 fo and then five years before you are due to retire and enter a type freeze. Take a command course and jump to pay point 24 captain- a close to 40000 pound pay rise and profit from that when you retire five years later having only made five years contributions at that top rate.
That is why flight crew stand to lose the most. The final salary pension aps or naps is a fantastic deal for staff who have a pay that more than doubles in the term of their employment. An average salary pension or money purchase pension will never match that deal. In fact as an ex cadet pay will quadruple in the term of employment!
Last edited by PaulW; 16th Jan 2007 at 16:02.