barefaced thanks for the good wishes.
On the other issues, let me clarify things. There's so much spin out there.
You're right...it's baffling how the pilots could end up with 10,000 weeks leave outstanding. But unfortunately it's true. The figure was even higher just a few months ago.
How could it happen?
Simple.
The very same way most ***k-ups happened in the company...crap planning, and even worse management.
While the recruiting bods were working overtime to hire hundreds of new recruits, the planners couldn't decide what to do with them.
Flight Ops Mismanagement refused (where possible) to upgrade senior F/Os to command in order to save money on commanders pay, even though the Captains were undercrewed on every fleet except the A330.
This is a well known practice in Aer Lingus Flight Ops Mismanagement, it is known as 'crewing for the shoulder'. It simply means that they never crew to meet peak period requirements, but aim to get by on good will and bribery.
Unfortunately too many pilots colluded with this practice so they usually got away with it. It's the main reason why all that leave accumulated.
Captains couldn't get any leave, and the F/Os were in such a glut on the B737 and A321 fleet that they hardly worked at all.
(And when The Guvnor jumps in to tell us this is good fiscal practice, I trust he'll explain how he'd deal with the resultant backlog of accumulated leave.)
Bizarrely they wouldn't put F/Os on the 146 to spread the numbers out better. This was so they could save a few quid on training. They could do A321 and B737 type-training 'in-house' with their own sims, but had to pay for sim time at Woodford with BAe on the 146.
So the undercrewed 146 F/O's are breaking their arses while B737 F/O's were fighting with each other for sectors!
The pay rise. Sick of hearing about it really.
A pay claim was lodged 18 months ago, in the 'good times'.
Whether you think it was deserved or not is beside the point, an adjudicator was accepted by both sides to decide that.
Trouble was that he dragged it out until just last week.
Meantime all other grades in the company had received pay increases of up to 30%. Many of them deserved it due to the abominable pay rates they were on at the time. 30% of ****** all is still ****** all.
So the pilots got no increase.
They also didn't get the 5.5% PPF payment. Let's call that a 35.5% total hit so far in lost relativity.
The adjudicator was scheduled to make his findings public on September 12th.
He cancelled and recalled all parties.
The 'revised finding' was published last week. It did not constitute a 25% rise. It was well less than that.
And it's academic anyhow because they aren't gonna get it.
Obviously.
So now we're looking at a total potential pay hit of around 25% for most Aer Lingus pilots.
Thats only the beginning because many have unfortunately been made redundant, and more are likely to follow.
The company also want contract concessions, like giving up contract days off.
So please, don't be misled into thinking the pilots in ALT are being unrealistic.
Unfortunately, and as usual, they are the first group in the airline to feel the pain. It comes with the territory.
Oh, by the way, if this airline survives, and if it some day returns to profit (which it certainly will do or it's a goner) then
why shouldn't the pilots get their pay rise?
If they don't, and if things elsewhere are at all better, there won't be many pilots interested in working for Aer Lingus in the future.
[ 06 November 2001: Message edited by: Idunno ]