kwachon

At last a seat for SRB !!!!

vs_lhr

Childish and cheap shot.

kwachon

Yes but funny!

greigok

VS LHR let the kids have there fun and don't stoop to there level..with the impending strikes im sure there have more time on there hands to put silly pictures on here...which do not help the cause of what the crew are fighting for.

sign-it-to-your-room

With regards to where crew choose to live, remember that we have to be within 2 hours of LHR. For crew that do not have transport, living in London is their only option to make a 7.20am check-in time. Or land back at 10pm etc etc.
Some other airlines on LHR contracts recieve London Weighting. We do not.

VCCM

keep up the good work greigok, alienating the crew even further and adding numbers to the strike group by the minute.

You have probably seen people bringing shopping home from Duane Reade too then, full of toothpaste and shampoo etc as its cheaper than the UK, yes sounds very extravegant ! You probably havent see the crew that never leave their rooms either becasue they need every penny of their allowances to pay for their council tax or gas bill !

greigok

What do you think the crew bus is for...passengers...no it's for the crew who live outside of London..that can get to check-in in time.

With regards to shopping...yeah i have seen them in duane reed...and no not seen many stay in there rooms...unless for a room party where they spend there money on alcohol.

Make sure your wrapped up warm on the pickett line...looks like it's going to be a cold one.

016FSM

It's very sad that people on here are trying to say that if we don't earn enough, go elsewhere, or live where we can afford to. When I joined the company I COULD afford to live on my salary, but inflation has gone up every year as has the cost of living and my salary has not. When other professions threaten strike action over terms and conditions, their managers don't say, "if the salary we can afford to pay you doesn't support your lifestyle, then go elsewhere!', it's outragious! They sit around the negotiating table and try to sort something out because most companies value their staff and don't want to loose them! Furthermore most people get a salary rise EVERY year, we DO NOT. We have not only missed a raise on the odd year here or there, we lost out every single time the airline had a tough year due to terrorism, fuel surcharges, expansion of the route network and number of aircraft, each time we heard how tough things had been and thanks for our hard work, but the company couldn't offer us a pay increase at this time!

And this rubbish about us having such a glamorous job that we shouldn't complain about terms and conditions is ridiculous! There are many people in the world that have wonderful jobs which include amazing benefits including travel, company cars etc etc, should it be said that they too should work for peanuts because their jobs are so glamorous or they get good benefits? Yes we get to go to wonderful places, but we work for a living to earn money. After years of travelling, one hotel bedroom looks much like another and yes we do shop because how else should we pass the time of the day from when we arrive to when we leave? We also use gyms, swim and go to the movies or should we be expected to sit in our room and wait until check out saving every penny that we are given? So when eventually we give up flying we can say, oh yes, I travelled the world but I never left my hotel bedroom because I couldn't afford to do anything!

Our job really isn't a bowl of cherries, I've dealt with 2 deaths during a flight, a number of SERIOUS medical emergencies, I've had a bomb scare mid flight and have had to restrain a passenger who was attacking one of the crew! So yes it has it's highlights, but sitting in a galley at 4am in the morning on New Year's day trying to keep my eyes open whilst writing my flight report then suddenly having to go and help an elderly lady who had collapsed only to find that she has just had a stroke, reminds me that our job really isn't always that glamorous!! You should try consoling the family of someone who has had a stroke during a flight sometime whilst making sure that the person in question is offered the very best medical attention possible until we land!!

greigok

My argument is..if office staff that I know can afford to live on 800..which is not in london but is in the southeast...they do not complain.

Have a gd new year....

016FSM

Exactly, sitting in an office with a lunch break and regular coffee breaks pushing a pen or doing whatever it is they're trained to do can really be compared to working on board an aircraft and hence salaries should be equal! And you will not find that many people in their 30's and above in any decent office job earning £800 a month, that I can guarantee you, my Sister works for an employment agency in London and I know what salaries office staff with a 'decent' job in a 'decent' company earn!

Furtherore, you don't hear Midland crew, or Britannia, or First Choice or Easy Jet or Monarch or United complaining about their salaries and you know why? Because they are paid decent money and are well looked after. Not as much as BA, but the money is pretty good! Length of service is well rewarded because they recognise the importance of having a mixed age group working for them as well as experience, something Virgin has no interest in at all!

O and by the way, we don't receive any overtime for working NYE or NY day and don't recive any days off in lieu either. Are we the only company in the world who doesn't get paid extra for working bank holidays? And I hasten to add, our office staff DO get paid overtime if they have to work week-end's or bank holidays!

sign-it-to-your-room

Im sure they do complain on £800 pm, either that or they live with their parents in the SE (not London)!!!!! Besides who in the office earns that? I've worked in many dept and never come accross anyone who earns that ( except school leavers.)

Back to the bus........
The bus does NOT guarantee arrival on time at work. It runs to its own timetable and if you are delayed, then there is no bus. If you are called out and one has just left, then its a late form for you. Your contract says "2 hrs from LHR" there is no mention of a bus to bail you out. This perk still remains because we fly out of both airports and are only allowed to park at one; not to mention that us old timers had our contracts switched from LGW to LHR many moons ago.

016FSM

Exactly, I remember that, we were moved from LGW to LHR base, LHR being in London, yet we do not receive London weighting!!

greigok

London is the south east im afraid!

You need to stop arguing on here and express your points to your union instead of arguing with everyone that does not agree with you. Also stop comparing yourselves to other lines. VS only does long haul and all the others do combined.

Also as per previous threads...which you should read i said i know how hard you work and that you deserve more money. Also no they do not live at home with there parents...they are temoing...that does not amke any difference.

But again read previous posts and you can see that i support the fact you need your wages increased.

vs_lhr

I think yours is more the exception rather than the rule, as you have been with the company for decades rather than just a few years. Your conditions really have gone on a downward slide; whereas I have issue with those currently burning Virgin flags who have only been in the job a couple of years and the conditions are not much different to those they originally signed up to.

The fabulous jobs out there that are well paid and have excellent benefits are rare, and normally reserved for the talented few who get (by luck or judgement) to the top of their game. The reality is that the majority of us get by, wondering why there is so much month left at the end of the money. It's pointless getting envious over what someone else has; therein madness lies.

I don't think anyone disputes that your job can be tough, and as crew you have to cope with a lot of different tasks; but remember that's the job as written on the job description. As I've said before, the reason the pay is low is because the job is in high demand. Every company pays as little as they can get away with, and for crew, that's surprisingly little.

I'm afraid this is slightly offensive. Belittling the work of others just because you don't understand their job isn't fair. I have worked in office environments were there is tremendous pressure on staff - having to deal with stuff that just makes you cry. The sort of job that you only do because it pays your bills (barely), and offers none of the perks of travel, or free time down route, or even a hint of excitement. Do you enjoy being cabin crew? If you say yes (and I suspect you do), then that is a huge benefit over the millions who have depressingly mundane work, commuting daily in the rush hour on overpriced, overpacked sweaty trains to grey offices where their managers have been promoted one level beyond their ability and have zero people skills. Please don't picture all office staff as happy smily people sitting around drinking coffee and doing their nails as though it was a scene from Working Girl.

BostonBill

Sign-it-to-your-room... just a point of order

"Old Timers" were given the option of changing their base to LHR or not. 2 cabin crew members remained based at LGW, everyone else went to LHR so they didn't have to be rostered solely on the "holiday routes" which didn't have trip pay.

But back then, the dollar rate was nowhere near 2:1 and most trips paid a decent amount.

pokergirl

After ten years service, giving 150 % every time, i am devasted by SRB s comments of "go elsewhere". I have never felt so deflated and undervalued by the company.

sign-it-to-your-room

VS LHR:
I know that you are trying to keep the peace and you are doing a good job of it so far, but now perhaps you get the picture on how we feel daily? 016 painted an unfair but generalised picture of office staff; since this thread began cc have had mud slung at them from all directions, with posters saying our job is easy, takes no training and any old school leaver could do it! Not nice to hear I'm sure you will agree, but we're cabin crew so guess what? we put up with it!

BostonBill: We all moved contracts yes, because that is where we thought the money was! Only 1 ccm left now operating from LGW, and I'm sure with those Caribbeans she is having the last laugh!

BostonBill

pokergirl, that's not what he said.

The way that I see it, his remarks are aimed at those who want to see a pay rise that is not sustainable by the Company. If you are adamant that you want more than is able to be offered in order to support your lifestyle, then you must look elsewhere.

So really, it depends whether you believe that the Company is offering all that it can afford to or not. If you believe them and you need more, then you have no alternative but to go elsewhere in order to get it.

nicecsd

The sad truth is that unfortunately this job (cabin crew) is steadily becoming a mediocre nearly low paid job in comparison to the past when it was regarded as an elitist, glamorous way of life and way to earn a decent living.
The different factors that have contributed to the demise of this profession is mainly the easy-jets of this world and partly Vs itself that without lower headcounts and inferior Terms & Conditions to its peers wouldn t have been able to successfully compete with just allegedly superior service.
We can fight as much as we want but unfortunately the reality is that this is the way the airline industry is going and no temporary strike will ever reverse this trend.

back2front

The thing is nicecsd is that easyjet crew clear approx £1600. Thats a good £400-500 more than Virgin crew and at the end of the day they can only work a max of 900 hours too. Easyjet might be low cost but they still pay their crew a decent wage.