SAM2M - Trust me, I have been unemployed and down to my last few quid with a wife and 2 kids to support. As I said, I do not blame the individuals for taking the job initially - particularly as the initial contract was shrouded in secrecy (why was that I wonder?) and people going to interviews were not told who they would be working for.
Flyingstig - at no point have I ever 'professed to have the ear of easyJet management'. I have had one discussion with a particular manager on a particular issue. With his permission, I put the details on a forum here since it was relevant to a large number of our employees. Not quite the same - but, hey, why ruin the story with the facts? But as you say, you are not interested in my point. Maybe you should become just a tiny bit interested in points and facts as so far you have not actually managed to contribute anything useful to the discussion.
Kirks gusset - being able to write in sentences is quite a useful skill. If I was you I would practice that for a while before sending out your CV again.
Rainboe - I am honoured to be described by you as a 'nauseating individual'. Maybe the truth hurts - in your case it certainly should.
8che - no one wishes you all unemployed. I wish an end to the specific union-busting work of your company in connection with its dealings with Aer Lingus. That would mean that Aer Lingus pilots fly Aer Lingus aircraft on Aer Lingus salaries negotiated by Aer Lingus's elected pilot representatives. Is that really such a lot to ask? That would mean that your company loses the specific contract related to Aer Lingus - no more and no less. I am not embarrassed to wish that upon your company. It is entirely reasonable and I am disappointed you cannot see the logic of my concerns. Your company is knowingly and willingly taking part in a clear attempt to destroy the power of pilot unions at Aer Lingus. That is totally unacceptable in my judgement.
Back to the main issue then... It appears that this is indeed a simple exercise in destroying the power of the Irish union. I fully accept that current Astraeus pilots had nothing to do with this - this is simply their management throwing conscience out the window to make a few quid at everyone else's expense. On one hand we have ex-BA captains like Rainboe who are enjoying the best of both worlds - a fat BA pension won for him by BALPA and a union-busting, industry-destroying salary from Astraeus to top up his earnings. Nice work if you can get it. On the other hand you have the understandably desperate FOs taking whatever work they can. In fairness to all parties, they possibly did not know what was going on initially - it has taken me a while to get my head around it. Now I do understand it, I see the situation as reprehensible. What I am not entirely clear on is why Aer Lingus unions are not doing more about it. This is the same deal as BA's European operation out of Paris Orly - quite rightly the BA pilots fought tooth and nail to stop it happening. In the end incidentally, that has been a disaster and is well on the way to folding.
By all means disagree with my opinions on this. I am delighted to hear a rational argument that proves me wrong in my assessment of the situation. Do not be fooled that Astraeus are somehow providing jobs for pilots - they are actively taking jobs away from another company. The pack is being shuffled but at the end there will be less cards than when the shuffle started! This is not fair competition in the sense of the battles between say easyJet and Ryanair or BA and Air France. This is straightforward opportunism by Aer Lingus management who are using a difficult time in the industry to shove a wedge into a highly-unionised company. I have no problem over negotiations with Aer Lingus pilots resulting in pay cuts if that is appropriate. I do have a problem with unilateral union-busting by an unscrupulous management.
Delighted to hear any rational argument to refute my concerns. If you really feel the need to insult me, just PM me or something - you will feel so much better doing it privately rather than making even bigger dorks of yourselves publicly.