Stan,
Apologies, its me thats confused. In a thread entitled Virgin Atalntic you said
I did my bit by taking a sabbatical. I then got offered VSS which I took.
I enjoy my low cost Command. It's different to VS, and yes, I'd like to get nearer home, or use my...
Given that many postings in that thread were related to Easy, I assumed you had forsaken Virgin for Easy. If you left Virgin in 2009 and had a low cost command by 3rd March 2010, then I would count that as a `quick command`. There may well have been F/Os in your new company that thought they should have got it before you?!?!
Notwithstanding any of the above I dont think you address the thrust of post.
Of course, I sympathise with the plight of the low houred F/Os and I would love to see T&Cs higher, anyone in their right mind would. Just as noone wants to be in a position where they
have to accept crap ones!!
If there really are no Airbus pilots out there who are so desperate for a job then, guess what? the agency wont recruit them, easy wont fill its gaps and everyone will be happy.
And guess what? T&Cs will have to go up again, or the airline park up empty aeroplanes like Easy did in 2006. Was their management successful in its bid to cut T&Cs that year?
So, the airlines fill their vacancies with low paid contractors while jobs are scarce. The unions cant (or wont) do anything about it. However, when there is an upturn and a demand for pilots, you can bet that the unions will be in there fighting for the proper contracts for the pilots (and their subs?!)
when I first started, the charter carriers laid off most of the F/Os along with the CC at the end of the summer season. They were taken on again in the spring. Things do change as the pendulum swings.
As I have said before, we have come out of the biggest and most sustained period of growth in the industry since the Wright Brothers. It would be naiive to think it could have kept on going for ever!!