VS_LHR. First point the company can afford it. As they can afford to pay the groundstaff a decent wage. They are past masters at pleading poverty to suit their situation. Second point please don't take my post as cabin crew against groundstaff. I am not CC & left VS a few years ago after 10 years service. Sadly I saw the way the company was going. VS need a good clearout of the deadwood in management & get back to the way they were which was a dynamic "lean" company snapping at the heels of the establishment. Unfortunately they have become the very company they were trying to beat decades ago. Overbloated, overstaffed and overmanaged!