There have been 11 cadets join Easyjet since last December on the Boeing of which I am one of them. We have joined under the 'standard wings' cadet route and therefore have been told all along that there may/could/should be a job for us. We are not 'Flex Crew' and so we do not get paid sector pay like they do in the 6 month probation period. It does however seem like we are being treated as 'Flext Crew' and in that way I feel that we are being abused by Easyjet.
I am not prostituting myself to Easyjet, I have been offered the standard route that should give me a contact. This looks highly unlikely again this year as we have been asked to work for 2 months as 'Flexi Crew' at the end of our 6 month till the end of October, in that time we will get full pay as per contract pilot. It still stands to be seen what will be offered to us over the winter and next summer.
EVERY CTC cadet IS in BALPA, as far as I am aware, and I know that BALPA are trying to do their best for us. I would be interested to hear about a CTC company council, is this possible?
BALPA are putting together a campaign to highlight the situation of new starters being abused by airlines in an attempt to bring the issue to the forefront of public knowledge, I am not sure what good this will bring, but at least it's a start.