Very experienced friend of mine joined easy as a second officer on a reduced salary, no duty pay and having paid over the odds for a 320 rating to then be told after 6 months that he would become a first officer after 12 months as per contract but now only on 75%
These sharp employment practises place an unacceptable strain on PEOPLE!
We all have debts to service, be it the mortgage, car loan, ex wife etc and the flight deck of an aircraft can be an unforgiving place when the brown smelly stuff hits the fan(or fan blades) when exposed to personal issues. It should not be unreasonable to expect a level playing field in a company, we are not talking about a foot ware company with zero hour contracts, this is a huge and profitable organisation.
We are professional people who work hard at safety and if there are guys in the industry that don't cut the mustard then there are enough processes and checks in any company to weed them out. The shear number of low housed guys entering the system is purely to keep wages low and oppress any general decent amongst the ranks.
Employ the best available candidates based on experience and suitability. The student cadet with a big wallet may be the best but I have to say I doubt it.
As for me, I don't fancy 4 sector days with 900 hours a year. I may not have a big pension Pot when I retire but I still think I will have some life left in me to enjoy it. I was told of one company with 4000 crew that 100 are off with cancer of various forms. Connected? I don't know but sobering none the less!