If STN, or any other base, vote for Union recognition, MOL will close the base, make the pilots redundant and move all the aircraft to other bases. Then he will invite all the out of work pilots, and there are a lot of them about right now, to join RYR, probably on a lower salary, at the now expanded bases.
Having spent a while reading all the posts put in here, it seems to me that some people don't understand how employment law works. Lets for an instant run with the idea that STN is closed, and the aircraft are moved away to some strange and unheard of grass stripe in Italy or Spain, the fact that those aircraft will continue to operate means that the pilots that WERE operating it MUST be offered the option of relocation. They can not just fire people and then hire new guys to do the exact same job. If FR do, then obviously that involves court cases and in some cases the pilots would have to be reinstated.
I myself am BRK, and I know that T&C for us will no doubt start to come down very soon. We do not have the benifit of ANY protection under employment law. If we are no longer required as a contractor, contract terminated. Job done. They can hire and fire 'Companies' as and when they like.
One of the other things that make me feel very uneasy is the fact that people think that I am BRK because I am trying to shaft the FR guys. This is not the case. I was forced onto this contract, and I fought long and hard to try and avoid it, but at the end of the day, having been promised the earth IN WRITTING at interview, and then shelling out money on THAT basis only to find that your money is gone and the promises are hollow, what do you do? Stand on principle, or take a position that pays well and try and make back the money I have spent?
One final point I feel that I should make. How many pilots does it take to operate a B737 in FR? Last time i checked it was 2 made up of the following:-
1 Captain and 1 First Officer
2 Captains
Note the combination that is missing - 2 First Officers.
Captains are the people that make these planes legally fly. Get them on side and you will find 1 pilot makes all the difference.
Having spoken to many pilots about this hot topic, FO's tend to be BRK and are scared of loosing thier jobs. Understandable, however being happy to make the 'YES' vote when the time comes is all that is needed from those that can. Majority of the captains are in favour and will also make the right choice when the time comes. The only people that are not willing to get involved are the forign guys. Some of these guys that refuse to get involved. They think that paying £300-£600 per year to BALPA, (An organisation that is there to help protect pilots from companies, but most importantly from a legal point of view because if there is an incident that ends up in case of negligence, you are on your own), is to much. They refuse to believe that things can get any worse, and if all else fails, bring down the shutters and finish with the line - "Back in my country, I would not be working now, so Ryanair have to do a lot more then this to make me want to take action".
I am not going to say that I hate the company, and I think that everyone there are crooks, and that everything is bad, because it isn't. Some things are great, and some things are seriously bad. FR is doing something right in the fact that it owes money to no one. What I don't agree with is the way the company goes about things, and treats its 'professional' employees. How they can remove money from pilots and say the company is struggling, and then at the end of this year, (mark my words), post a profit and pay shareholders is unacceptable, and for that reason I believe that the workforce requires a qualified body to represent them.