easyJet/CTC Cadet Pilot Slavery Contract
In the last few days I have become aware of an outrageous deal between easyJet and CTC. This contract is akin to slavery and has been offered within the last week to CTC cadets who have finished their ATPLs and are swimming in the hold pool awaiting a type-rating. They have had less than a week's notice and had to accept on the spot for a start date today (14/12/2009). I have had to wait to have a number of independent verifications before publishing, but these are the bare bones:
easyJet will no longer pay for type-ratings for their cadets. Instead, they require any CTC cadet who wishes to work for them to sign a 3-year contract. The contract involves the candidate paying for his own Airbus type rating at a cost of £28k. The contract only basically pays the cadet if he flies, and there is no guarantee whatsoever of minimum hours. They are saying a cadet can expect to fly 650 hours but there is no guarantee that will be the case. Therefore, for example, if in year 3 they do not need him to fly then he will just not be rostered and will not receive a penny in pay. At the end of the contract there is no guarantee whatsoever of future employment. Indeed, it would be reasonable to assume that there is a virtual guarantee of being kicked out on the street with nothing to make room for the next lucky candidates. Of the £28k type rating cost, £4k must be paid up front. The other £24k is borrowed from easyJet/CTC and paid back over 3 years. If the cadet leaves before 3 years, the £28k must be paid back in full. During type-rating training, pay is £500 per month. Thereafter the pay is £1200 per month with no flight pay up to the 6 month mark. After that you get paid £48 an hour (presumably block hours) with £20 an hour deducted to go towards TR cost (ie £28/hour clear). I believe, but cannot verify, that once the outstanding £24k is paid you stop paying for the type rating rather than continue paying anyway for 3 years, but there is a question even about that. On 650 hours it will take about 2 years to pay off the type rating. Adding these figures up mean that the salary for a CTC cadet flying 650 hours per year will be as follows:
Year 1: Approx £15k
Year 2: Approx £18,200
Year 3: Approx £31,200 (assuming you have paid off your TR costs and that they keep you flying)
Also, the salary does not cover loan repayments. Most CTC cadets have loans of around £60k to cover training and I am told payments are around £1000 a month. That means that a cadet literally cannot afford the loan payments in the first year yet alone pay for food, accommodation or a pair of socks to wear.
However you dress this up, this is a grotesque abuse of young pilots and constitutes the worst terms and conditions that I am personally aware of in the history of commercial jet aviation in the UK.