How confused some of you are!
The MAD contract is nothing like the UK one. The increase in
gross salary it is not equivalent, at all, to the UK contract. The gross salary on the Spanish contract is higher than in the UK one. However, payments to National Insurance in Spain are much higher than in the UK. Furthermore, the 5% pay increase in UK has not happen in Spain (= effective pay cut). In Spain you do not get the extra 2% of the pension. According to EZY Right now there are talks in Spain of how to scrap the pension all together. In addition, if you are not Spanish, how will you benefit?
Night stop allowance for Spanish crews is only 18 pounds! Why do you think it is cheaper for the company not to base pilots in CDG or LYS. At the beginning it will be LGW crew down in France. Once the Spanish bases are fully manned it will be us doing the night stops.
Sector Pay. It is equal for Capt., F/O and Cabin Crew. Under the Spanish Contract any flight to Spanish soil is considered domestic; hence, you get a daily fix domestic rate = 22 pounds. International flights will get the international rate of 40 pounds/day. If the flight duty is divided between Intl. and Domestic you get whichever is the longest flight. Some examples follow:
- 2 domestic sectors: MAD-ACE-MAD = 22 pounds (>5hours flight time)
- 4 domestic sectors: MAD-OVD-MAD-LCG-MAD = 22 pounds
- 6 " " MAD-IBZ-PMI-IBZ-MAD-AGP-MAD = 22 pounds
- 2 domestic + 2 intl: MAD-FUE-MAD-TLS-MAD = 22 pounds (>7 hours flight time) Longest sector is the domestic; thus, domestic pay.
- 4 Intl. sectors: MAD-LIS-MAD-LGW-MAD = 40 pounds.
Sick pay cover is ONLY for 3 days. Do not get confused with six months. The six month sick pay cover is only for pilots transferring to the Spanish Contract before Feb' 08. Anyone, new or from any other EZY base, will not get it.
I have read some naive guy (he knows who he is) in the forum saying that life in
MAD is cheaper. Either you live in the city of London or you just not have a clue how expensive it is to live in MAD. MAD is nothing like Benidorm or whatever cheap place you might have been on holydays in Spain. Madrid is the 7th most expensive capital in the world. Therefore, unless you are Paris or London based, you are talking from your rear.
DIVIDE AND CONQUER. How many times do we have to see this happen before the saying sinks in? If the UK goes on strike and EZY asks someone on a Spanish Contract to operate flights from LGW, he/she cannot