Folks, might I suggest you don't withdraw your applications, or fail to turn up....
That allows management to say "nobody wants the job..."
Go through the process, accept the job, but refuse to sign the contract they present.
You could even present J* with your own contract in reply - this is standard practice to respond with a revised offer, perhaps the union could furnish something along those lines....
Remember, at this point it becomes a contract negotiation, the work is already settled.
Several reasons I suggest this:
- This prevents managment from saying "We have a pilot shortage, nobody wants the job ..."
- If applicants withdraw their applications, it is about them not wanting the job
- If successful applicants wont sign the contract, its about the contract T&C.
- If management change their minds (yes, and I beleive in Santa too!), you still hold position in the application queue
This is not about pilots not wanting to fly for the airlines, its about pilots not prostituing/bankrupting/disrupting themselves and their families in order to do so.
Even if they change the application process and bring the contract negotiations up front, that is the time to put forward your claim. the job is not filled because you can't agree on the contract.
It also takes time to process an applicant, time is money, this process costs. If these costs continue yet there is no results, even the bean counters should (and note I say 'should') react to that.
Keep your applications current.
Bottom line, you actually want to be an airline pilot, it is the 'top-of-the-tree' in aviation for many of us. You want it known that you will not bend over backward and take a stiff rogering to do it!
Make it about the contract T&C, not the job.