GTD Aviation
I wasn't following PPrune much last year but just had my attention directed to this thread. I'm the founder of GTD, and I'm the guy who got sacked for trying to upend the current scheme of "contract" exploitation of pilots. Let's please not use my real name here because I have another job and don't wish to have questions pop up in that workplace.
I've had many pilots tell me, since the demise of the 2014 GTD push, "mate, that was a brilliant idea -- it was perfectly planned!" I thought so as well. It had three months to either take off and fly or drop off the end of the runway, and it was the pilots of Ryanair who decided its fate, not me. They decided that their life was good enough after all, and it wouldn't be worth rocking the boat.
Many pilots who wanted GTD to succeed and even did volunteer work toward that end did not themselves "participate." Those who participated -- that is to say, signed/scanned their paperwork and emailed it to the law firm handling GTD's operations -- had their confidentiality fully protected, as was always promised.
GTD's biggest "enemy" was the Irish Air Line Pilot's Association. IALPA attacked GTD almost immediately, and was its only outward harassment during its months of operation. Their behavior was despicable in every sense, and my communications with them (I took the case to IFALPA, and they wrote a letter of inquiry to IALPA, to which IALPA refused to even respond) have led me to a very strong sense that they're bought off by O'Leary and Company. Something like "here's the money fellas, now get out there and rattle the pots and pans once in a while, act like you're doing something, but make sure nothing gets done."
When I, a dues-paying IALPA member, was sacked for no other reason than attempting to organize the pilot group which stands out as most desperately in need of ANY kind of organization, IALPA sent me an email saying "well that was predictable." They not only did not represent me against Ryanair/Brookfield, they never responded to any further communications -- from me or from IFALPA on my behalf. I still pay my €33 monthly dues to IALPA, and I haven't finished with them yet.
I talked to an Italy-based Ryanair captain a couple of days ago, about a 10-year veteran of Ryanair, and he told me he cleared €3,900 euro in March, working a full roster. That doesn't surprise me -- what still surprises me is that most Ryanair pilots think someone ELSE is going to come along and rescue them without asking them so much as discomfort in the process. They just don't realize what the stakes are in this game, and how much it really demands of them if they want to see change.
Last edited by Birdstrike737; 14th April 2015 at 23:13.
Reason: readability