AIR 2000 Pay Cuts

[PPRuNe Pop]

Out this Afternoon




Air 2000 pilots agree pay cut to save jobs

4:12pm Friday, 16th November 2001

Air 2000 pilots have agreed to a pay cut to save jobs.

Their decision to accept a 5% reduction in pay will save 50 jobs.

Air 2000 had initially said it needed to make 77 pilots redundant, and demote 38 captains to first officer status, to save £3.2 million.

The alternative plan includes 32 pilot job losses and the demotion of 16 captains out of a workforce of 387 at the Manchester-based charter airline, part of First Choice Holidays.

The British Air Line Pilots' Association says its members voted overwhelmingly in favour of the job-saving scheme.

Air 2000 says the 5% pay cut will be repaid by the company in the summer.

Christopher Darke, Balpa's general secretary, says: "We're delighted the company is backing our alternative plan.

"We've been imaginative in dealing with the redundancy problem. Pilots wanted to share the pain and, in the process, save jobs. That's what they are doing.

"All credit to them, and all credit to the company for having the courage to take this path with us," Mr Darke says. "This surely is the way forward for the whole of British industry."




noon

[Gaza]

Well done all those that supported this. It may have not saved all the jobs but I'm sure those that have been saved will appreciate it. 95% of £XXXXX is better than 100% of the £42.50 job seekers allowance. Good luck to the 32 who still have to go.

It's interesting to see companies like A2K and KLMuk trying options other than FIFO and saving peoples jobs. This is much more likely to boost morale.

[ 16 November 2001: Message edited by: Gaza ]

[EPRman]

There is no morale in Air 2000 to boost Gaza.

[The Prisoner]

Looks like Danny's OK, what with all that advertising on pprune and et al. I hear that the CLK 320 is a very nice car.

[moan_on]

It would be nice if the people running Virgin, and more importantly BALPA, could think about a similar deal.

Oh, will we never learn!

[ajk]

Lets get the facts straight. This initiative came from Air 2000 management and was voted on by all the pilots not just BALPA. It is misleading to put it mildly for BALPA to go on to a public platform and make claims such as this, just plain lies.

[Lou Scannon]

A little econonomic with the truth there AJK:
The "result" is a vast improvement on the offer that was first handed down from the main board of First Choice.Following some excellent work by Air 2000 pilot management and the elected Balpa reps this far better deal was put up for voting. The ballot, organised by the Electoral Reform Society and paid for by Balpa, was opened to all Air 2000 pilots. Fortunately the vote was overwhelmingly in favour of this option, as a result of which far fewer Air 2000 pilots lost their jobs.

My bet is that the guys who have managed to keep their jobs are less than happy with your very low loyalty to your management, elected reps and democracy! Presumably you would have preferred the option where more pilots went and you didn't have to take a pay cut.

[Alex Nash]

Christopher Darke, Balpa's general secretary, says: "We're delighted the company is backing our alternative plan.

I think you'll find it's this statement that we are objecting to Lou. It was BALPA that in principle wanted more redundancies rather than give up any of their 'hard earned' gains. How are things in Bristol?

[Loadshifta]

Surely the idea of a pay cut for the remaining workforce is the thin end of the wedge.
If the airline can operate with the reduced number of crews, what incentive will there be to re-instate the pay cut at a later date? Indeed, having presumably done the numbers, the airline can fly the services with the first suggested redundancies why will they not revert to these redundancies at a later stage increasing the savings?
IMHO, having agreed the 'rate for the job' it is always a retrograde step to then renegotiate a lower 'rate' to preserve numbers. The result will almost always be an increase in the workload for individuals, with at best rewards that are frozen.
Consider the idea of recruiting pilots at much lower rates of pay, eg BA regional rates, is this really the way forward or just a way of reducing the rate for the job?
Are there any other professions that consider reducing their rates to ensure that the number of practitioers remain at an artificially high level when compared to demand?


Which way is port?