Its the JF/Os you have to worry about, as they learn to fly in ADL
?????
Many JFO had probably more experience that many DEFO when they joined as a SO, but joining as a DEFO simply wasn't an option for them at the time they joined.
Don't get confused, that safety risk comment by the company is simply a lawyer type of argument to try to convince the labour department that they should rule in their favor. After all, whoever is presiding the hearings probably knows very little about aviation, and using scary words like "safety risks" might impress him.
What's shocking, is that they publicly states that they hire unsafe crews, then puts them up front with hundreds of pax in the back. How do they explain that??
We all know it ain't true, but using such a strategy in court could have consequences.
In the past, at the time when an upgrade to JFO took about 1.5 yrs only, the company was hiring SOs with minimal experience (definitely less than many who joined as SO in the last years) and upgrading them regardless. Many are now newish captains. Have they been running an unsafe operation of years??
There's nothing fundamentally changed in the level of experience of crews, so playing the "safety risks" card is betting that the labour board is ignorant of how the company hires and trains their crews. It makes them sounds desperate.