tilii
You seem to have misunderstood BavarianBoy. The company has stated that there will be redundancies, unless 40-odd pilots resign. Assuming they don't, redundancies will be made, starting with external contract pilots, then freelance pilots, then over-60's, then nearly-60's, then two-year contract pilots, then five-year contract pilots.
As there should be sufficient of the above groups to satisfy the need for redundancies, no pilot on the main seniority list should be affected by (forced) redundancy. However, as all of the two-year contract pilots are F/O's, and the eventual fleet will initially be seven less jets and three more turboprops, there will need to be some moving of types and seats. This problem is mainly extant in one base.
All pilots who have received 146 type ratings are bonded for 18K over either 2 or 3 years. I doubt that any of the over- or near- 60's are bonded, so their going will result in no penalty to them or the company. None of the external contract pilots, or the freelance pilots, will be bonded either. The only group that will be is the 2 or 5 year contract guys. Now, given that situation, your comment-
>> Given the terms of the BE bonds, it is now quite clear why BE have elected NOT to make these pilots redundant. If they were to do so, it would make it incumbent upon BE to clear their bonds, would it not? <<
-erroneous. Furthermore, as the two year contract pilots are only on a two-year bond, the company can recover less money from them via the bond than it could from a standard, three-year-bonded pilot.
Further, your statement-
>> Far better, then, to simply give them the option of becoming type-rated on a ‘lesser’ type and be bonded for two types simultaneously or to leave of their own volition. <<
-is incorrect, as any pilot changing types will only have a bond on the new type, which, if he has recently been "promoted" to the jet fleet, will result in his bond being less than the one he had on the jet. In this case, the pilot wins, as he has both type ratings but only the turboprop bond to think about. The company has clearly stated that if a pilot changes type, the bond on the previous type is cancelled.
>> Kindly explain how a pilot bonded on a jet type in the sum of many thousands of pounds (which bond takes the form of a bank-financed loan in the pilot's name), when offered conversion onto a more lowly type on the basis of again being similarly bonded is deemed to have cleared up the original bond UNLESS THE EMPLOYER HAS PAID IT OUT IN THE PILOT'S NAME? <<
Yes, that is exactly what the company has proposed. I quote from their letter to pilots:
Where a pilot is offered another aircraft type rating the existing bond will be paid off and a new bond commenced for the new aircraft type provided the individual accepts the change of type.
I won't be posting the whole terms and conditions, suffice it to say that the company has the right to require a change in type, rank or base (as virtually all pilot contracts allow), and exactly how the bond works into all that is a matter of some interpretation.
Your penultimate and ultimate paragraphs above are unworthy of further comment (but are typically petty and nasty).
[ 29 July 2001: Message edited by: MOR ]