Just before you consider leaping into the orange pond, consider the following:
1.There are a lot of individuals that have joined eJ with the promise that they will get the base of their choice, just to be phoned 2 days before joining to be told that they are in fact being ‘temporary placed’ at a short fall base. (The contract wording allows this). Some have taken up to a year to get what they wanted (and that was with the threat of resignation and bond repayment). You may request Gatwick, but there are 120 buses arriving and there are two new bus bases being announced. Choose Gatwick, get Edinburgh.
2. The rosters have been very unstable for years. They have a nasty habit of trying to reinvent the wheel, with dire consequences. I dug out a memo from four years ago (sad huh?) and it read virtually the same as the latest edict from the new ‘rostering guru’. It told us of ‘challenging times’ and ‘great opportunities’, but in short, he’ll ‘try his best’ to improve lifestyle! It’s the nature of the beast, while they continue to expand, rosters will be a mess.. And eJ have no plans of slowing down.
3. Fatigue is running at the worst eJ has ever seen, due to high work loads and appalling rostering (and subsequent butchering of the aforementioned). I have never seen Luton base so bad, just to be told that Stansted had a sickness rate of 31% last fortnight. This is combined with very low crew morale. There is no light at the end of the tunnel and that is why crews are leaving, often to go to lower paid jobs, on the promise of improved lifestyle.
4. Consider what you will give up: Pension. EJ pays 7% of your basic, you top up the rest. There’s a lot of ill feeling towards the IFA who runs the pension fund, who is always in the south of Spain playing golf, while pensions are poorly invested. Health Cover. There is none. Union Rep. The eJ CC do their best to negotiate, but with dwindling union members, they are often helpless to the management decisions. Seniority. There is none. Base transfers, holiday selection, command upgrades: it’s all random and often generates ill feeling.
5. Join eJ as a DEC at Gatwick and you will be treading on a lot of peoples’ toes. I have been told that all the 737 Captains have had their bus courses postponed, due to the shortage of Cpts over the winter period. Their courses are being filled by DECs. The management are saving money and the BALPA CC have no power. EJ still has a very ‘small airline mentality’. There is a lot of cattiness. You cross the wrong person and life can be lonely.
In short, consider what you will be giving up and don‘t be inpatient and shortsighted. I have painted a gloomy, but honest picture of easyJet. It may be expanding, but whose to say we won’t go bust? Our shares were 575p two years ago and they’ve hovered close to the floatation price for the last 10 months.
nf