Just to emphasise - I am not talking about a future with flexicrew in any form - I am talking about a probationary period of 6 months to a year after which you are given a permanent contract. The terminology used to describe that is of no consequence.
It really is not helpful to pillory the flexicrew guys for making the choice they did. On one level it is true that any budding pilot, with our without CTC, who invests heavily in his own training needs to go into it with his eyes wide open. A low-houred commercial pilot is the kicking-boy of the industry - that has been the case since the dawn of aviation. As we all know, we take any job we can when you come out of training and hope to work your way up the greasy pole. In the past those jobs were single engine piston flying instruction, light twin flying if you were fortunate or flying RHS in a turboprop if you were really lucky. That has changed now and you can hardly blame a budding pilot for going where the jobs are - ie easyJet, Ryanair etc. Frankly, if I were in their position I would do the same. I personally have no problem with them 'paying their dues' on low wages and long hours IF there is a clear way of escape as time goes by.
I see any likely solution to the current impasse involving a multi-layered approach. The simple fact is that young people are getting access to jet jobs straight out of training that most could not have dreamt of a few years ago. Therefore we will have to be creative in our approach to the solution. We are just not going to get a repeat of the current terms and conditions for the flexicrew guys - it is simply not going to happen. What we can get is a staged increase in salaries and conditions (but permanent as soon as the probationary period is complete). The final salary terms and conditions should be the same as the top of the range at the moment. That to me is a reasonable compromise that gives the Company somewhere to go in reducing costs and us a victory in protecting the SFO terms and conditions. As far as I can tell we are still a very long way from achieving that, but that is where I see the end result lying. There is also the question of keeping the 5/3/5/4 roster pattern - if the Company have their way that will disappear forever. Whilst recognising the need for 'flexibility', we can offer a few years on FRV before graduating onto fixed-pattern rostering as slots become available. There are a multitude of possibilities but it will require a bit of compromise from the Company to achieve it.