I agree with Polax, yes Abbey it will not be easy for the Vueling pilots.
I say that united and resolute they have a good chance. You saw the number
11,000 Euros base pay per year, there is a lot of room for a pay increase. Vueling has a huge cash reserve, and has been profitable for a number of quarters, and contributed to a an improvement in IAG´s share price.
Meanwhile the company can maintain their cost structure with their growth and a pay increase, Vueling´s current labour cost ( including non pilots ) as a % of revenue, is the second lowest in Europe, lower than Ryanair´s.
The headline reads they will be fighting for market conditions, not below. Understand, they are asking to get closer in pay to Easyjet, not the same pay. Apparently, Vueling pilots are united behind their SEPLA Vueling union.
The lowest pay of the lowest paid Vueling pilots affect European pilots and British, as its pay could be used against your companies union in future negotiations, as Vueling grows in Europe, do you agree ?
One thing they the management like to do is play one pilot group against another. For example moving production from Iberia to British Airways. For British it will possibly come to moving production to a cheaper sources of labour in the short haul to Vueling.
Would it not be in the interest of British Airways pilots to support Vueling pilots in their battle against a ridiculously low pay scale ? As this could affect them in the future. Would it not be better for IAG pilots to work towards being more united ( not easy at all ) in the future ? Are there not IAG working groups coming in the future ?
It appears to me that managements seem to be rather coordinated in their attacks to lower pay in Europe, is it not time for pilots in Europe to be more united ( yes extremely difficult ) through ECA and IFALPA. As management threaten to move production from cheaper pilot group to another ? This trend of lowering pilot pay needs to stop somewhere.
When pilot pay is lowered such as in the case of Vueling, does the money saved go to the shareholders ?
CEOs Paid 273 Times More Than Workers In 2012: Study