I reckon its quite easy to judge flexicrew for choosing to accept a contract like that but one should think of the personal situation as well.
There probably are enough examples of people fresh out of training who can't wait to sign the contract without any thought about the t's & c's which is pretty alarming. But when I look at my personal situation for example the story is completely different. With me are probably hundreds of people who were/are in the same situation.
Started training in 2007 when everything was still going well economy wise. Then when the sh*t started to hit the fan a couple of months into training there was no way back. After completion of my training I was very reluctant to even look at schemes like flexi. Two IR renewals later and the situation was a lot different I can assure you!
I discussed the flexi contract a lot of the people I trained with and who signed the flexi contract long before I did. This way I knew what I could expect.
When I got the opportunity it didn't take long before I wanted to take the gamble. In the back of my head there's always the thought that it's not the way it should be but I haven't regretted my choice so far.