There is some light at the end of the tunnel. A number of noises are coming from various people within the Hangar and beyond to indicate that there is about to be a 'coming together' between Management and BALPA on this pressing issue. And yes, this is directly related to this thread and will have a massive effect on future recruitment contracts. Inevitably the Company want 'flexibility' - I can cope with that but will not cope any longer with anything less than 'easyJet pilots for easyJet cockpits'. In all honesty, like many other people I never foresaw the scale or level of abuse that flexicrew would bring to the industry as a whole. There were wiser people than me who did see it, but we are all now well and truly on board with this. I have woken up to the awful reality of this over the last couple of years or so, but the final straw for me has been the sacking of numerous flexicrew pilots contracted through Parc, and the 're-employment' of these very same pilots on dire permanent contracts in Germany. It is an outrageous abuse of power and comes straight from the Ryanair school of bad employment - not surprisingly given the senior positions that some ex-Ryanair managers now enjoy within the Company.
In the past, frankly, BALPA never really saw it either, and it was considered someone else's problem. Well it has now become all our problems and the signs are that this has become THE issue of the day between pilots and management - as well it should. There will inevitably be some horse trading, and neither side is going to get all it wants, but we have to have certain 'lines in the sand' before we go in. I have confidence in our new CC and the likely new CC Chairman to now put right the mistakes of the past. The unfortunate thing has been that until recently BALPA have given the distinct impression to the Company that they accept a certain level of flexicrew is inevitable. That is absolutely wrong in my view, and while I accept a certain level of crew 'flexibility' is required (particularly in smaller bases), I absolutely reject the idea that any pilot outside their probationary period (say 6 months) should not be permanent employees. Time will tell what progress, if any, will be made. This is now everyone's problem and it is well and truly centre stage.