Zippy:-
"In response to the suggestion that "no Cadet this year was given the impression that they would be employed beyond winter and yet they still took it", I would ask, what would you do in their position? With no other offers forthcoming from ANY other carriers, coupled with the prospect of other CTC 'partner airlines' laying off staff, would you turn down those initial six months?"
I am sorry to be blunt, but since you asked, and with the benefit of experience as well I would not enter such a scheme. If my kids grow up and want to be pilots (god forbid) I will not let them do it this way. I will not let them be exploited in this manner, no matter how strong the "dream" of sitting in a big shiny jet is, because that dream obscures reality from them, and reality is where you have to live.
I was TRSS, but at my selection day I was DE. In aviation the only constant is that the rules keep changing, and we ALL have to learn that the hard way. I did.
If cadet contracts had/have a cast iron guarantee of a job at end of said 6 months then you have a case, however if there is the slightest whiff of said job "MAY" be offered or any sort of get out clause, then just because all the guys who went before you got Jobs is not a guarantee that you or anyone else will, this is harsh but its the truth, its a bit like people leaving one job to start another because at the interview they were told after 6 months they would get a command, such promises in aviation are worthless, they may sometimes work out but if pressure tested they hold no water.
There are days I serioulsy wish that I had become a train driver, it was my initial thought as a boy before I encountered aviation.
Flying and working for an Airline are two very very different things. The first is a passion, the second destroys your sole a little bit at a time.
This thread was about the holding pool where guys want to bring their experience to EasyJet, and to be fair to them, perhaps a new thread should be started on Cadet contracts and return this one to its original intent.