Hi aviator3200. 'Project Merlin' is the internal project within easyJet to increase 'pilot engagement'. Essentially, when the then new CEO, Carolyn McCall, arrived at easyJet last summer she pretty quickly realised that the relationships between pilots and management were at an all time low. Having put out the initial fires, she met with the Chairman of BALPA (the UK pilots' union) and issued a joint declaration that a new day was upon us and the management and pilots would work together to repair the damage of the past and work for the good of the company and of the pilots simultaneously. The practical outworking of that was a very late (about 8 months after it should have been) retrospective pay deal and the start of a massive consultative process called 'Project Merlin'.
The project is limited at this stage to UK-based pilots, but assuming some sort of deal is reached then it will also work its way out to the mainland European bases too. As you can imagine, there are all sorts of local contract issues that make the whole situation very complex. The sort of stuff that is up for grabs includes rostering, pay, allowances, leave guarantees, part-time etc. For example, we have numerous roster protocols and restrictions right now the company want rid of. In return they are looking at providing a wide variety of roster patterns such as 5/4/5/4 or 4/4/4/4 with 'draft' potential. Pilots at BA will be familiar with the 'draft' whereby you can compulsorily be given a draft notice in the car park telling you that you are on your way to Narita or whatever, regardless of what other plans you had. At BA, they help you overcome your disappointment by hosing you down with money (I believe that in the past a 747 Captain might get around £4k for a compulsory draft trip - I do not imagine we would be so fortunate!). There are all sorts of discussions about transitions from earlies to lates within those roster patterns. There are also questions of flexicrew contracts becoming permanent which must form part of the agreement - for example, 59% of current FOs at Gatwick have temporary contracts. Other discussion items would be leave guarantees during the summer, salary sacrifices for better roster deals, part-time availability and so forth. It is a real minefield and is being run by the Head of Flight Operations (No 2 to the Group Ops Director, who is a certain ex-Ryanair employee with a reputation few would wish to emulate). As you might imagine, this is a real horse-trading exercise whereby the Union and management slog it out to get the most 'flexibility' versus most advantageous terms and conditions. Like all these things, it will not be perfect but I do expect it to be overall positive. I do not harbour unrealistic expectations that I am about to be offered more time off for more money - that is simply not going to be on offer. Nor am I of the negative mindset of some on here who believe it is all a management ploy to play for time and then stuff us. The truth lies somewhere in the middle whereby a more flexible and open relationship between pilots and management is being generated that allows for all sorts of options which, the greater good, all of us can buy into. I hope that makes sense.