Direct contracts of recent times!

[radartostby]

Top of the mornin' to ya!. .Have y'all heard of the recent version of the flight crew contracts DPI have been trying to force onto their crews?. .The 'old' contracts were bad enough, with not one increase in salary in the last five years, with no perdiem of any kind! (not that we get, anyway!). .The 'new' one is really good, after it was forced on the crews in mid January, backdated to the 1st.

We figure that the overall loss is about ten percent of salary!

When one talks to their Dublin office, the tone is not sympathetic at all, initially that of 'Well, what's wrong with the new contract?', and if one actually tries to make any point, the fallback position is "Would you like us to mention to ***** airline that you are not happy with the contract?', ie, intimidation, right up front! . .Some people are now voting with their feet, and some will just see out the current commitment only, but not everyone can do that, for varying reasons.

Does anyone else currently flying have a contract with Direct, or maybe some that have recently moved on, for obvious reasons.

Any input or stories of other experiences would be appreciated.

This is just the beginning. >>>>>>>>

[jetjackel]

Flew a DPI contract for BWIA in 99 to 00. DPI was actually the only contractor I've worked for that physically appeared at the beginning to assure a smooth start and actually showed up again mid contract. Pay, at the time, was about standard and DPI provided, through BWIA, full medical/dental. Really have no complaints.

As a professional contract pilot (8 short term contracts in the past 7 years)I still send out my paperwork to most of the contractors and have found, since 9/11, that all the pay levels are down. Some potential employers have taken advantage of the pilot glut. Brookfield Aviation is offering 2/3rds the salary for Tunisia seasonal contract, that was offered early last year. Contractair is offering half the money previously offered on the same contract with Tunisia. The biggest "smack" comes from Regionair, who was offering exactly double 10 months ago, what they are now offering.