aztruk - you have not understood the argument. This is nothing to do with supply and demand. Your company is not somehow offering a better service to the public at a cheaper rate and is therefore doing well. Astraeus are providing non-unionised labour to defeat unionised labour within another company. Whether or not individual pilots at Astraeus are BALPA members or not is irrelevant - they are being herded together as individuals to break a union in another company. You are simply strike-breakers brought in before the strike begins. I agree that ultimately market forces determine salaries. Within the range of available employers I would rank Astraeus as scraping the bottom of the barrel, but that is not the issue here - as it happens Astraeus pay rock-bottom wages, but that is neither here nor there in assessing this particular situation. There are all sorts of companies out there with all sorts of different terms and conditions. I have no problem with that - I personally like working for easyJet and at this juncture intend to work for them for years to come. Similarly I recognise that working for BA 'man and boy' has brought fantastic opportunities to many pilots - I have no envy whatsover of those fortunate enough to have spent their working lives in such a good environment. Nor do I have a problem when 55 year-old pilots leave there and continue to work for easyJet et al afterwards - that is entirely reasonable. The real issue in this particular case is that this is not competition between companies in the accepted sense. This is not BA against Ryanair or Aer Lingus against easyJet. This is Aer Lingus management acting against their pilot employees and trying to circumvent their problems with the Irish pilots' union. Astraeus pilots have unwittingly become 'scab' labour to coin a rather unfortunate phrase from the past. I fully accept that the pilots at Astraeus, including those taking the A320 jobs initially did not know what was happening due to the secrecy surrounding the contract. Nonetheless, the truth is out there now and this contract must be challenged both here and, far more importantly, by the Aer Lingus pilots themselves. I am simply at a loss to understand why they are not doing so. Whether you are a parent with your kids, a Prime Minister with other nations or an employee with his bosses, the secret in life is to know which battles to fight and which ones to leave for another day. I would say this to all Aer Lingus pilots - this is a battle you simply have to fight, and fight now. You are watching the systematic destruction of your entire futures by a gang of self-serving losers who masquerade as your managers. They are aided and abetted by a two-bit company without scruples of any kind. Not surprisingly their employees are puting up a smoke screen of abuse towards myself and others who have challenged what is happening - they cannot hide the truth of what is going on here and nor should they be allowed to do so.
Rainboe - not surprisingly you are avoiding the issue. First of all, the competition between bona-fide companies such as BA and easyJet is one thing. No reasonable person has a problem with that. Secondly, low-cost carriers like easyJet and Ryanair have undeniably created a market that previously did not exist. BA have never made money on short-haul - their profit has historically been achieved from business/first class transatlantic travel. Their passengers figures around Europe are not that far below their historical norms - companies like easyJet and Ryanair have indeed taken some of their client base, but have primarily carved a niche market. Once again, I need to state that I have no problem with fair competition between companies - that is a founding stone of our free market economy. As one of the numerous checks and balances in life, I also see the need for responsible trade union representation of employees to prevent the enrichment of the few at the expense of the many. I always hated the union excesses of the 70s but I have also come to despise corporate greed, which covers up personal greed verging on criminality among the directors of large companies. That is the true force behind all this - the common interests of a few very senior managers at Astraeus and Aer Lingus coming together in a union of the unsavoury against a multitude of the unwary. To an extent I do not blame you for creating such a fuss here. Partly it is your nature, and partly it is because you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Even you, as the great Astraeus protagonist, have have been unwilling to discuss the issue of union-busting - who could blame you as it is the elephant in the living room of your conduct. You can try and tip-toe around it and you can throw insults at me until the cows come home. The problem is that the elephant is sat right in front of you, and you choose to ignore it. The simple fact is you are knowingly and proudly taking part in an unwholesome act of destroying the power of the Aer Lingus pilots' union. I hope the pilots at Aer Lingus will arouse from their sleep walking pretty sharpish or they will be in dire straits. The 50 or so pilot jobs your company is 'creating' is about to be offset by the 100 or so jobs lost at Aer Lingus. But then again who cares - look after number one, right?