During our briefing this morning one of the management team came in to explain the pay deal.
My initial reaction to a 4.8% increase on basic pay was positive. However, they have then detailed the increased trip pay (FSM & CSS by 30% and juniors by 9%). Apparently this is to reflect their management role on board the aircraft - I thought that was what their higher salary was for.
They have also said that FSMs who have been with Virgin for 10 years will automatically be entitled to part time to thank them for their loyalty. Not everyone who's been with Virgin for 10 years, just FSMs.
It seems that the deal has been written with a much greater advantage to the FSMs. When I first heard 4.8% on basic I was really pleased. Having read those two bits above I now feel as if I'm not really all that important to the company and they aren't bothered about rewarding me for my skills on board or loyalty to Virgin as I'm not an FSM
There seems to be a bit of a split, with FSMs saying to vote yes but cabin crew (especially long serving MAN crew) saying vote no. CSSs are a bit caught in the middle as they can obviously see themselves becoming FSMs soon and so benefiting, but remember being juniors etc.
Have a feeling it might be accepted just because of the large number of FSM/CSS as opposed to CC that are Union members. Oh, and they've thrown in the old sweetener that if we accept it then we'll have the backdated pay before Christmas. If we reject it we won't.