Unless someone comes up with a masterstroke, I'm sure it'll remain a case of 'take what we're given and be grateful'.
That is
exactly what CTC and easyJet management want to hear. "Be grateful you have a job".
Summer contracts are one thing. This is something completely different and many times worse. If I was in the position I was in last year, and this was the only offer on the table, I would be seriously considering jacking it all in.
Baguette, you can sit around all day proclaiming that
"I set out to become an airline pilot 2 years ago and I'm going to achieve my goal" but believe me, the career really isn't worth what they're asking from you now. Forget all this romantic schoolboy notion about "being a pilot". I was lucky enough to secure a permanent contract, albeit miles away from my family and friends and missus in a country where I don't speak a word of the language, and as I'm sitting reading this and watching the constant and accelerating downward spiral, I'm starting to wonder what it was all for. That nice view out of the window starts to look the same after a while. It's easy for me to say, but people faced with the choice of a £28k type rating and 3 year contract on toilet-cleaner money would be better off packing up, going bankrupt and starting again with a clean sheet of paper. The industry is in a mess, and you won't realise what you've got yourself into until it's too late.