easyJet managers must be good....

[HectorPascal]

From "The Independent" website:

"EasyJet to pay £10m bonus to 38 managers
By Michael Harrison
11 December 2002
A group of senior easyJet executives are to receive an early Christmas present after the airline completed a key stage in the integration of its low-cost rival Go four months ahead of schedule.

The switch to a single air operator's licence, which took place on Monday, has triggered the first tranche of a £10m bonus payment for 38 top managers from the two airlines.

The executives will each receive a year's salary in shares in return for hitting the target early. The original deadline for operating under a common licence was next April.

The managers will be entitled to a further year's salary in shares when the airlines start operating under a single brand. Full integration of the airlines, scheduled to take place next summer, will trigger the award of a third tranche of shares.

EasyJet also indicated that it was preparing to go ahead with the €50m (£32m) takeover of British Airways' German subsidiary, Deutsche BA."

[Amazon man]

English management don't you you just love them, you've got to laugh otherwise you would cry.

Oh well heads down lads back into the trough

[Few Cloudy]

English management? Quite a few other nationalities in there - including the top.

Not very publicity conscious but no different from any other management - it's actually a sign that something must be going well.

[Tonker Towns]

10 miliion to 38 managers and i'm paying back£25k to learn how to fly their aircraft so they can make more cash,unbelievable! Not so much a low fares airline more like greedy,B****rds

[A4]

It's highly commendable that they have achieved things 4 months early but does that really warrant an extra YEARS salary? After all, they're just doing what they're paid (handsomely) to do. If I get the aircraft away early and back early I don't get a bonus. I get paid to operate the aircraft so what's my incentive to "overperform" other than personal satisfaction that I have run an efficient operation.

Is it any wonder that the troops get *issed off when they see these gross rewards being handed to management who are, after all, only managing. I know the CAA has shyed away from performance related pay on the flight deck due to safety concerns, but I'm sure that there has been a fair amount of effort from flight deck and cabin crew (SOP integration) to allow this early achievement. Will they be recieving a Christmas bonus?

A4

[Orangewing]

You lot aint seen nothing yet!! The years salary is payable on completion of each PHASE of the takeover - sorry, merger.So by the time integration is complete, the golden 38 will have received 3 YEARS salary on top of their normal earnings!! All this for putting in a few extra hours work, unbelievable.
Meanwhile, at the coalface the flight crews still have no improvement on pay negotiations, management are rumoured to be trying to get rid of our crew food (but not their nice restaurant in easyland) and we may even have to start paying for our own car parking. Oh, and there is no christmas bonus, A4. And hardly even a thankyou for the grief the crews went through as a result of the crewing/rostering fiasco in the summer. (which, incidentally, some of the golden 38 were responsible for).
Yep, its snouts firmly in the trough for "management" and a kick up the a**e for the crews on the line.
Dreadful airline.
:mad:

[A4]

This is a sad state of affairs. It seems more comon than ever that crew (flight and cabin) are being shafted left right and centre whilst the senior management get away with GROSS in-efficiencies and STILL get their bonuses. This fat cat attitude needs to be stopped. Credit where credit is due but all too often it is NOT due!

Over the last few years the professional status of pilot has been downgraded both in terms of perception and reward. With more and more stories emerging such as the EZY management payouts and the MYT pay-offs for the "failed" directors, where are all the pilots going to come from to cope with the predicted massive expansion aviation over the next 20 years? Who in their right mind would go into an industry which

a) requires a significant amount of hard work, dedication and money to achieve the licence let alone get to LHS.

b) requires continued proof of ability throughout your career or suddenly it's no job (an no you don't get two years salary + options if you "fail")

c) Pays only £65K a year for the responsibility of a $30 - 90 million aircraft and maybe 360 people on board. I have a friend in computer sales who earns DOUBLE what I get - with no formal training.

With the added pressures post 911 and now being locked away in the flight deck for 11 hours with little crew communication (CRM.....?) it's hardly a bed of roses is it?

Having said all that I still love my job - but I don't like what is going on in the industry (although it doesn't apply exclusively to aviation). This "line your pockets and sod everyone else" attitude is contemptable and morally wrong. They're (management) very good at handing at "mission statements" and "teamwork memos" - when are they going to start handing some of the cash which EVERYONE in the company has helped to achieve - sometimes in spite of managements best efforts!

Heres hoping....but I suppose I'm a bit old fashioned when it comes to what is right and what is wrong.

A4 :(

[Nils Taurus Excretus]

To all those who bemoan the sad and parlous state to which we have allowed our Profession to fall these last 20 years it is YOU who are to blame, for not getting off your fat self congratulatory behinds and letting these managerial parasites destroy what was once of the most highly respected and sought after careers in the world.

There is an answer though.. same as it has always been.
Just get a bloody good grip on yourselves and park the aeroplanes! Are you so thick that you can't see the only answer there is? Or just too weak kneed to have a go? It makes me puke to see all this self deprecatory drivel so often spouted in these and other forums. You are just a pack of wimps undeserving of the respect so hard earned by those who went before us.

Start realizing that every time we suffer a further reduction in our positions it is a direct attack on ourselves and our families. It deliberately reduces our ability to provide for those who should be our number one priority. Maybe when you finally get real we will see a turnaround in this sad sate of affairs.

Easyjet is just another predator eager to devour you anf your children. So what are you going to do about it?

Fight or just lay down and die?

[curmudgeon]

A4, I think that you've hit the nail on the head.

You say that you love your job. Presumably thats why you're not leaving it and joining your friend the computer salesman on double the money. After all, if there's no formal training required, you could always start tomorrow.;). And if you leave, and there's lots of other pilots willing to step in to fill your shoes at the same salary as you're currently on, I can't see the company paying them more than you get/got.

Its all a question of supply and demand. The shareholders of any company have the power to appoint the Board, who then make the decisions on executive pay (and if its a public company, the remuneration committee is made up of non- executive dierectors.) The board then keep the shareholders happy by not spending more of the company's money than they have to.

I don't know about this situation with easy, but presumably the saving to the company of the shortened implementation time is saving them money - otherwise why would they pay out the extra cash to the managers?

cur

[Orangewing]

curmudgeon, in response to your last sentence. The bonus was not paid because they completed this phase 4 months early, that is irrelevant - as long as they completed on schedule, the bonus was theirs. A good motivation tool, eh?
N.T.E you make a very good point, however we will never as a group make a united stand to protect our status, T & C's etc. The Germans will, the Swiss will, The French, the Americans the Spanish et al will however.Why? because they unite. We Brits, for whatever reason don't. The reason is I believe because we usually have either a hidden agenda or are guilty of the "I'm alright Jack, **** you" syndrome. We are too keen on our own self interest to say enough is enough, this is where we make our stand. Until we do, our status and overall package as pillots is going to continue spiralling south - and no, I am not a militant person, but frankly I have had enough and do not want to see our status eroded any further.:mad:

[Easy Glider]

At last some of you are beginning to realise just what is required to end the sad sorry state of affairs we all find ourselves in now.

[Colonel Klink]

Well, the same manangers "that must be good" are in fact showing just what a pack of @rseholes they really are!! The easyJet PC and BALPA met with the management on Monday, and agreed to a much needed new sert of rostering principles which would move the pay negotiations forward (finally) to a conclusion. On Tuesday, for reasons known only to themselves, these wonderful managers changed the whole bloody lot thus invalidating all previously agreed,and the negotiating group had to start again virtually from scratch. At the same time, they had advertised roadshows to tell pilots of the outcome of the new conditions, before they had even been agreed???!!! Needless to say, they are subject to a vote, which will undoubtedly be rejected by a margin even greater than the 95% that voted against them last time, which may cause a rapid escalation of industrial action. Won't we have a happy Christmas!! And will they continue to get their bonuses if no-one is flying??:mad: :mad:

[Norman Stanley Fletcher]

A slight deviation from the thread, but someone else has mentioned the roadshows. I am reliably informed that the Roadshow at Stansted was something of a disappointment. The chap running it apparently had no idea what the remuneration package was and just told the people there just to look at the website. In retrospect, that may have been a deliberate ploy to avoid any discussion on what is clearly a sensitive issue. The roadshow was lacking in any sort of detail beyond, "easyJet are great and are taking over the world", and require 140 pilots a year for the next few years.

There were apparently some excellent line Captains there at the "tea and biscuits" bit afterwards, which was the saving grace of the day. I am told that there was not many type-rated people there and that little thought seems to have have been given to the future recruitment of Airbus pilots. Apparently the first Airbuses are slated to go to Geneva in September 02, and the first UK-based ones arrive in January 03. Presumably they will be looking for Airbus people then but they do not appear to have thought about it for the moment.

[bijave]

Ah you guys are so good.

Why don't you guys just do the same as everywhere else in the western world: Parking brakes on, shutdown checklist, Secure check-list and "see you next year after the strike".

You'll see how suddenly listening ears will come to you begging for a stop because everybody is talking about it.

And that's not a desire for a needless show of power. It is necessary. Because your conditions are a lot worse than anywhere else on this continent (I surely wouldn't come to work at EZ) and you could get a lot better both in terms of working conditions and money.

[the boy John]

Let us not kid ourselves. £10M divided by 38 is £263,157!

And thats a "bonus" for a bit of Monday - Friday daylight hours only paper-shuffling?

The poor office workers who probably took the brunt of the extra hours got, well, can you guess? Zip.

The Aircrew, who already work watch-on stop-on like harness animals get piles and piles of extra homework over months (fotr their intellectual improvement on days "off") and get, well yes. Zip.

I trust the rest of the world is suitably impressed at this progressive and people oriented attitude, and will take on board all the motivational aspects of this revolutionary style of encouraging trust and loyalty in a ground down and overtly despised workforce.

I wonder how many £Millions our superb Company Council reps are worth now after their thankless months of weeek in, week out up-until-midnight graft to try to get us working conditions fit for Professionals instead of dogs.

Sadly, I fear we all know the answer. I know who I think deserves a bonus....

[RAT 5]

Lots of glum expressions and blackened visages at the coal face. A great shame, and I wish all good luck in the struggle and a hope that those responsible will not escape their comeuppance.

A couple of questions about the bonus. I assume it had to be approved by the share holders. Due to the Employees Share Option scheme we've heard about, does that not give a voice to employees at an AGM???

If they can not oppose it directly, why not a searching Paxman question about why a bonus is paid when management only do the job the're paid for and no penalty was applied after the numerous and hugely costly screw-ups over recent years? Perhaps some of the institutional investors do not know all the facts about life and costs on the inside.

Why not throw RW's own words (May easyjet magazine) back in his face; that at the core of Orange operating philosophy lie "Honesty, Equality & Transparency"?

It would seem, especailly after representation at GO from the start, that BALPA have not made much impact in their first year inside ej. Surely thay must have much more than 50% of the total now. What is going on? If they can't sort this out it does not augur well for membership expansion. In what appears to be a situation made for union intervention, we hear very little of their input.

Sympathies to the guys who deliberately chose GO over ej all those years ago.

[thrust3]

To answer the title of this thread....yes we managers are good!

But before you shoot me down in flames, let me say this. I am not one of the hallowed 38 (nor should I be). There are many in easyLand who are extremely p1ssed off at the injustice of this bonus package (let alone whether it should exist at all).

Many of the 38 are doing little more than their routine jobs (don't get me wrong, they are still working bloody hard), whilst others with no bonus incentive are working their bollox off on making this integration work.

This bonus was a very devisive move and I'm not sure it won't backfire in the long term!

If they really want to reward the people who are making the integration work then they've definitely got the wrong ones!!

[A4]

So if people think the institutional share holders will throw their hands up in horror at this (the first of three!) bonuses, why doesn't someone "highlight" it to them. It's not difficult to find out who they are. The City has had a miserable year and 2003 isn't looking great with George W set to kick off in Iraq. So I would imagine that if the City can divert some pennies for shareholder dividends in stead of fat cat pockets they would leap at the chance. They seem to be growing less tolerant of this boardroom behaviour.

As someone said, what goes around, comes around and these payouts could back fire big style. If EZY pilots strike and the public hears that 38 managers are sharing £multi-million bonuses FOR JUST DOING THEIR JOB then I would think that the public will be on the side of the strikers. There is a growing feeling in the country against this sort of greed and injustice. Good luck to all (most) at EZY.

Happy Christmas,

A4 :)

[Colonel Klink]

A4, I fear what you say is correct, as I have been saying for months now the mood in easyJet is downright ugly as a result of this bonus and people have been reading about these "fat-cat"bonuses for a while and are sick of them. They seem to happen everywhere. A strike is definitly on the cards, our pay deal is 8 months overdue now, so it seems that these same managers can't really manage at all!!.................................:mad:

[Max Continuous]

The computer salesman earning double that of the pilot is probably twice as economically productive as the pilot. Lack of formal training has diddly squat to do with anything - a good salesman is worth his weight in gold. No sales, no customers. We pilots have virtually no contact with customers or persuading them to use our services. Remember the general public will have little sympathy with striking pilots - we're already the fat cats if you look at average earnings country-wide of £23,000 pa. It's all relative, as the firemen are discovering. If you want to be a fat cat manager earning the big bucks, go and do fat cat management - what's stopping you?

[Colonel Klink]

Isn't it one of life peculiarities that everyone thinks a pilot (or fireman, for that matter) is overpaid until an emergency that requires the skills for which they are trained to be used: then they couldn't pay them enough!:p

[Max Continuous]

CK you're absolutely right, and if pilots encountered emergencies every day far fewer would wish to fly for a living and pilots would be paid far more money to do the job. Modern day flying is overwhelmingly routine and non-eventful - we sit there while the computer does its stuff. In fifteen years of turbo-prop flying I've had one engine failure and maybe six other non-scheduled visits to the check list. Perhaps I've just been lucky but I reckon the average firemen sees more excitement in a month than most pilots see on line in a decade, thank goodness. Anyway, no intrinsic value attaches to a job - when all is said and done it's all about supply and demand, however unfair that may seem.

[mjenkinsblackdog]

Max,
You are forgetting we get checked every 6 months and our jobs are on the line.
I dont think webster and his jolly band have consultants in every 6 months inspecting what exactly they DO!
If that was the case 50pc would be on the rack.
DONT UNDERVALUE THE PEOPLE AT THE SHARP END!
It only takes one big cockup .
Look at Valuejet !:cool: