hey loopy
the payrise is an absolute disgrace !! as a new crew member the payrise would not affect you in the short term anyway as your pay is frozen for a year at £10851 which is terrible. this was never the way before after six month you use to get a pay increase this however is nolonger the case. my advice for you loopy is to join the union the minute you have the opportunity whilst you are doing your training as i can see these pay talks getting rather nasty in virgin after all we did get screwed over in the last talks and to be honest crew moral is at an all time low with crew down shortages and the introduction of variable manned flights.