Hullo Chaps,
Dear oh dear, haven't we gotten ourselves into a twist over this subject again. Like clockwork it seems, every 2-3 months, this old chestnut pops it's head up and all the usual suspects regurgitate the same old arguments ad nauseum.
The hipocrisy is charming also, I do love the statement that:
The state of play is this: Alan Joyce, Bruce Buchanan and co at the moment are working very hard to devise a way to circumvent paying EBA conditions and avoid the "heavy
" hand of FWA. This means contracts, this means casuals, this means employing people from impoverished countries on slave wages as they do with the
flight attendants for J* already (yes they do sell themselves on overnights when in Australia to make extra cash!). If you don't get your skates on and get a job under the EBA of one of the Airlines or regionals (Qlink/Skywest forget the rest) and the AJ BB plan goes ahead you will be like the regional pilots in America that live in squalor.
Ignoring the slander contained in that paragraph, this circling the drain style descent really kicked off in earnest when Airline hopefuls started coughing up for the type rating. Sound familiar Hat old boy? But the PPRuNe community thanks you in earnest for the sacrifice of your Friday night to give advice.
Do I have a degree you ask? Why yes. Is it aviation? Why yes it is. Did it help? Most Certainly. Would I have had the time or inclination during the last 6 years of flying to complete any degree by correpsondence? Certainly not.
Did my degree assist me in my current and previous employment? Unequivocally yes. Now if you'll excuse me, I must get back to working for one of Mr Hat's 'forget the rest' employers. Actually, no, I don't work weekends. Quite good for a 125k/500hrs a year job.
Straight home and don't spare the horses.