I feel truly saddened reading this thread now.
It was one of useful debate until people can't be bothered to read and get to the nub of the problem before posting a reaction.
The in-fighting in this industry is 2nd to none and also the amount of hostility from both sides is staggering.
Having been on the other side of the fence for a number of years flying with the big Orange company, I KNOW how important the role has been of the BALPA Company Council in the airline.
And to be honest guys, if I wanted to fly shorthaul for the rest of my life, I would have stayed at EZY. The money was way better for a good number of years (when you need it most) and not flying out of LHR is an absolute breath of fresh air.
It was just time to move on and look for a different challenge as opportunity came up.
Jealousy plays NO part in this. And anybody that feels the need to attack us just for the sake of T&C's has to grow up and smell the roses.
For anyone to think that their T&C's will not be affected (in the short/medium/long run) is clearly short sighted and has no understanding of simple economics.
Someone has to tow the line (and in Europe that tends to be the legacy carriers). Our salaries are benchmarked and knowing several people (captains/fo's in Lufthansa/KLM/Iberia), I also know that our salaries are NOT the nub of the problem.
It's simple corporate greed.
Our issue is not with lower start up T&C's and the flexibility OpenSkies need to fight in this tight margined world (and be assured, margins will get less and less the more aviation skies get de-regulated).
Our issue is Schedule K and has to do with our aircraft/our bottom line/our managers and ultimately our bread and butter.
For someone to say, what has it got to do with you I can only say one thing....
You really do need to pay more attention to the world we live in!!!!!
Schedule K is NOT fit for the new regulatory environment we live in.
How can cost or flexibility be an issue if the mechanisms that BALPA have offered clearly
are aimed at being helpful.
My apologies for leaving you to it, my fight is with BA over this.
Support is not directly required. We'll brief the City appropriately of that I'm sure. Just as we did over the pension issue. (I have bones to pick about NAPS and BARP, since I'm on BARP, but the BACC has done very well of late in making it an acceptable pension scheme)
Leave the old toys in the pram