Hi Snooky
Your comments on part-time working during the Gulf War versus BA pilots does not stand up. Many went part time, took stand-down, went on secondment all over the world, even worked as cabin crew to avoid layoffs.
PLEASE!!! ALL off you out there who revel in a 'the world v BA' mentallity please try and put your prejudices aside.
FACT: A very large proportion of BA SH crews are paid less than franchises.
FACT: Almost all FO's are vastly underpaid in comparison.
FACT: Like it or not, all our companies monitor market rates for pilots. If they can avoid paying more, they will. True, some BA pilots earn good money, but have to stay 15+ years to beat some low-cost salaries. To put that into perspective, if I had gone LHS low cost instead of joining BA, (as my experience would have allowed) I would be £120,000 BETTER OFF after 4 years! Subject to coomand availability, it will take another 5 or 6 years to match the likes of Easy, and I will never recoup the shortfall, no matter how good my final salary.
Regarding SCOPE, I would suggest everyone listens to all the proposals before judgement. For example, it's an accepted practice in SCOPE agreements the 'major company' to give access to it's seniority lists in return for a deal. If such a clause is wriiten in, based on seniority, a franchisee pilot could fly any aircraft in BA's fleet.
BA ARE SHORT OF PILOTS. X NUMBER OF ROUTES NEED Y NUMBER OF PLANES NEED Z NUMBER OF PILOTS.