I'm with Virgin 89.
The thought of a strike scares me somewhat, but i take comfort in that I dont believe the cfrew will have the balls to do it. Why? Because this is just a big drama to a lot of them, most dont even understand what is going on! I keep hearing the same old story of we want our pay in line with other airlines, but no-one (except scoobs) has actually stipulated what they want. Do they even know what they want? I guess the thought of losing a few days pay will be enough to make most not vote.
As a guideline, here are the salaries (per day) of what crew stand to lose:
JNR £55
SNR £63
CSS £76
FSM £89
Those are just off the top of my head, I do have the actual figures in my house but not about to look at this hour.
Add on top of this trip pay/commission/allowances and there is quite a significant loss.
I've no idea what would happen down route. If I ruled the airline and my crew refused to board a plane I certainly wouldnt pay for accomodation or extra allowances, so not sure what would happen in these circumstances.
I'm all for getting extra pay as a manager, sorting out this crew down situation (which is not down to crew sickness, if that were the case why is it a comparatively new thing?), but not at the expense of a strike and the possibility of job losses.
I dont think it is scare tactics, I think it is called real life; I am not a union member now and apparantly I am the most vulnerable to lose my job because of this!
I do believe that I am underpaid as a Manager and that the 4.8% wont really bring me in line with other Managers (airline or within VAA); however I do believe that this will eventually be addressed, and for what its worth I'm hardly overworked! Okay, I'll probably get lynched for that last comment, but its true. For the hours that I work and the lifestyle that I lead, I think I'm in a win win situation. Of course I get pissed off with the company at times, but like Grease 7 said "I just grit my teeth and get on with it hoping that the weather will be good down-route"!
This whole situation has saddened me. I've swayed to and fro seeing the argument from both sides. Now I just want us to accept thye 4.8% on the table and get back to normality. This is going to sound awful, and i do apologise, but I feel that the airline I work for has been invaded by a group of people who just dont care or listen. I sometimes think "How dare you ask for such an increase after such a short service". I feel that I can ask for an increase as I joined so many years ago and worked my way up, but if you knew that salary in the last couple of years then why the big fuss?
Off to bed now and I await the barrage of abuse I'll recieve for that last comment
