Our dear, this will prove a quandry for at least one of the Australians working there, who managed to score his first airline job with Ansett in 1989, by taking a position during similar industrial action Down Under.

Watch your backs - some of the enemy might be within.

If you guys at Easy balot for industrial action you could may be join the guys at Thomas Cook and use the same 45 gallon drum to keep warm around.:ok:

Just start by working exactly to the rule book. Every defect in the tech log when it occurs, exact ftl hours, report on time not early etc to get paperwork done, don't hassle support teams just accept the job will be done when it can. Call in Fatigued when roster instabilty leaves you knackered. Joe public cannot complain at you working within the rules, safely. Go on strike and you lose support from the customer. This has to be the last resort.

Best of luck to you easy guys & girls, the rest of us are watching you and Balpa closely.:ok:

Interesting non- Easyjet people urging EZY pilots to take action or " being interested in developments". You can bet your life they are,- especially BA pilots who have seen EZYs phenomenal growth while their own network- especially ex the provinces-shrinks. If EZYs customers walk away, the others,- and the urgers on ,- benefit and EZYs pilots lose money and probably in some cases their jobs .
Promises such as " we are right behind you " are not worth the paper written on as the promisers will be nowhere in sight when the brown stuff hits the fan and EZY people pay the price.
The only honest form of industrial action is : if you don't like what is on offer and if it really is that terrible then go to someone who gives what you want. Simple!

It is simple, but not the way you think.

Nobody gets paid what they're worth. If they did, nurses, teachers and missionaries would be paid much more than they are.

It is simple............. you get paid what you have the muscle to demand. And in this dispute, muscle equates to BALPA membership percentage.

I cant imagine why Mr Harrisson would not want to sort this matter out as quickly as possible, surely joining a new company and falling out with the majority of your work force as soon as you get there, would be forever damaging...

Don't forget that Easy's Ops Dir is none other than Micky Sucks who was trained by none other than BA, and is a graduate of the three-week-how-to-%^&*-the-staff-over-and-cash-in-with-a-big-bucks-bonus course at the Harvard Business school.

I think you'll be surprised at what public support you might find. There are rallies in Eire today in support of the ferry workers who are the latest victims of this caring management attitude.

Go Easy! There are others just behind you.

I wrote this on 17th January 2003. Unfortunately you didn’t act along these lines at the time, so I guess that’s why you’re forced to now. Best of luck and please all join BALPA.

Guys & Gals of Easyjet

I know that it’s real easy (no pun intended) looking in and commentating from a warmer and sandier location but in a former life with a UK employing airline, I was involved, with many others, in a potential strike position similar to your own.

Uncannily, the issue was not money but lifestyle quality (or lack of) produced by basing and roster issues – could it be true that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it?

Again by mysterious coincidence, our “management” was of the true British mould, being top-down, obdurate, arrogant, dismissive and greedy – sound familiar?

Relations between the indians and the chiefs rapidly became rancid and the inevitable ballot produced an overwhelming mandate for a strike forthwith, unless serious negotiations for change, along the lines proposed by the pilots, was entered into.
This ultimatum was naturally ignored by the “powers” and a date was duly forwarded to them for the first total withdrawal of labour.

So legend has it, the “management” then huddled round, fished out their empty fag packets to make their calculations on the back of (standard procedure for everything) and worked out:
(a) the ₤millions that would be hemorrhaged in that first strike day alone
(b) the effect that a prolonged strike would have on the company’s profitability and much more importantly, on their own personal annual bonuses
(c) the pilots’ proposal could actually save the company money
(d) they would look complete horses a*rses in the subsequent enquiry conducted by the shareholders, if the strike went ahead.

Result? Negotiations proceeded in a serious and businesslike manner, issues were resolved, the company saved money (jeez, some of these pilots seem to have more than three grey cells between them!) and peace and productivity reigned.

Lesson? If you all stick together, stay focused on the key issue, mean it when you say strike and fully comply with the national industrial relations legislation, then, as the taxi driver says, “you’re speaking the only language they understand, guv” and they can only sanely respond in one way.

So stay together and you won’t have to strike.

Caudillo wrote:Often but not in the case of easyJet. The fight is between the union and the employer. Joe Public just suffers the consequences.

The firefighters were replaced by the Army hence they needed public opinion on their side as they couldn't hold their employers by the short and curlies....public opinion makes no difference in this fight as we can hold our employer by the short and curlies :E

Skylion wrote: And if we all did that we'd be working for peanuts.

From the Korean Thread

Numbers are the only way to make this fly

Korean, Easy? Thomas Book-It ? I do believe I see something other than train headlights at the end of the tunnel; All of us in Aer-O'Leary wait our turn.

:cool:

Where is the infamous Norman Stanley Fletcher??????????

:} :yuk: :* :zzz: :hmm: :ok: :E :O :D

He's right here! I am just keeping a low profile so as not to make our Company Council's job more difficult than it already is. They are doing a great job representing our interests and they have my complete support.

I’ve also been looking through the archives and found my own small contribution to the debate then raging in 2003. Things do not seem to have changed much in the intervening three years and certainly the need for all “easy” pilots to be BALPA members is even clearer. Would suggest that all involved parties read the thread here .

24 January 2003

Bijave – post of 23 Jan

As you’ve been involved in a strike before, I’d guess you will agree that it’s a thing to avoid if at all possible.
Perhaps, paradoxically, the best preventative action may be for all non-members to join BALPA post haste, even at this late hour, and support the strike ballot which I believe will shortly be called.
This will both protect the pilots concerned plus send an exceptionally powerful message to their CEO and, given that they are dealing with a sane management group, will concentrate minds wonderfully, thus probably avoiding the need to strike.
If pilots do not band together in this manner, then the “suits” will inevitably interpret this as a spilt, will not take them seriously and dismiss the whole thing to the press as the pathetic whinings of a weak and cosseted bunch of prima-donna pilots.
Pilots will then have to strike, to crystallize the issue and the messy situation you so accurately describe will come about – not good for anyone!

........I’m sure that Anotherpost75 will not mind me similarly including his excellent post which has high “nail striking on the head” qualities of its own about it.

9 February 2003

Tandemrotor

Excellent post of 7 Feb. Hit the nail on the head.

To quote you, “But the bigger the stick, the less likely it has to be used.”

Precisely – the more members, the bigger the stick – the bigger the stick the more they take notice – the more they take notice, the easier it is to get your message over and get some real terms and conditions as opposed to the opening shot “try-on” your “management” is currently laughing about behind your backs.

As discerning readers will gather, I’m outside the fray and in the words of one of your less discerning colleagues, “stick(ing) to making sandcastles in the desert”. I am however, nearing the end of an eventful professional flying career and whilst my kids affectionately indulge me as an old dinosaur they nevertheless acknowledge that I seem now to be able to view events with a measured perspective and, on a good day with a following wind, not too shoddy a recall of detail.

I exercise the same perspective and recall now and would like to reassure younger Easy pilots that history is merely repeating itself and that there have been similar tussles between pilot bodies and the plethora of ex-dog meat salesmen, baked bean peddlers and snake oil specialists placed above us as management “experts” and intent on “new-brooming” their way to enhanced profits, higher personal bonuses and onward and upward boosts to future positions in the truly stellar reaches of “gravy”.

There have historically been two pilot body responses that I have ever been able to observe. Either they remain supine and apathetic, accepting the diktat from the latest arrivist ignoramus, hence becoming collectively responsible for the inevitable slide in their own terms and conditions plus the accelerating contempt in which they are held by the ever more powerful “management”, or they have done something about it. In the latter case, inevitably, the precondition for action has been strong BALPA membership which has point blank refused to accept unilateral contract changes or onerous terms and conditions and has made this stance crystal clear to both “management” and BALPA. They have similarly made crystal clear that, as a last resort, they have been prepared to sanction 24 hour work stoppages on dates of their own choosing and that they would continue this stance until an equitable settlement was reached between both parties. I have noticed over the years that this collectivism and frame of mind has produced real power for the pilot bodies concerned, as I have further noticed that “managements” seem to respond with impressive alacrity and freshly concentrated, highly accommodating minds only to such naked displays of power and intent, following their consideration of the immediate and dramatic effect that such brief power exercises will have on Cash Flow, Profitability and Share Price.

All of which is to say, to non-BALPA members, please remember that it is only this power that will sway your tormentors and secure your legitimate aspirations to fair treatment and the quiet enjoyment of your profession, following years of qualifying work. Please join the Association now!

I have mentioned before that my motivation for writing on this thread is that I am an ardent supporter of the legitimate aspirations, collective welfare and reclaimed standing of ourselves, the worldwide professional pilot body. As things stand, however, I’ll be very pleased to shortly be leaving it, as, along with so many others, I’ve seen a gradual erosion in our standing, remuneration and employment conditions, all of which we are entirely responsible for, solely as a result of our unwillingness or inability to combine and fight these depradations. Young men and women of Easy, reverse this process now. Stand together and defeat your foe. Please believe me that they will be absolutely terrified if you combine – I’ve seen it before with my own eyes!

Finally, a note to BALPA. Will you kindly stop being so bloody pathetic and do a proper job. The membership is not getting value for money!

........That final note pertains to the situation in 2003 - I'm sure BALPA is now doing a great job - best of luck to you all highcirrus

Airlines come and go. The pilot population is relatively constant.

The airline you fly with is largely down to circumstance and luck. It is not the terms and conditions of "Easyjet" or "BA" we should be fighting for; it is those of the pilot community.

Join Balpa. United we stand.

Ain't that the truth brother." they don't like it up them Mr Mainwaring" go on, chaps & chapesses ,you know you want to!

This is the first time in easyJet's history that the pilots are united in a NO vote against this pay deal. Even the 5/2/5/4 deal had mixed views.

Our BALPA council are doing a fantastic job. We support them 100%.

For us and all future pilots let's keep this a career for life.

Rumour has it Mike sucks could well be on his way back into BA.
Watch this space

Hmm... Why would BA want to take back a Manager who previously deserted when they have just announced a massive cull of senior managers?

But back to Easy Jet... I certainly wish you all the best and I'm glad to hear that your company council is taking a hard line. The T&C's of our industry in general have taken some savage blows over recent years and its time the fight-back began.

Up until 911 things were just beginning to look up for us with EasyGoRyan chasing the wages up for type rated 737 pilots, but then Osama went and spoiled it all.

The good times can't be far away. It cost me £35k to train as a self improver 10/12 years ago, with the hope of an excellent salary and pension one day to look forward to. That equation seems to have changed more than slightly since then.

Supply and demand will always win in the end which is why the airlines have had it their own way for so long. Until the playing field tips in our direction, solidarity is the only option. They can't run an airline without pilots, can they?

I say again... "Good Luck".

"Why would BA want to take back a Manager who previously deserted"

Not QUITE what I heard the reason/reasons for 'leaving' was/were ;) - doubt he'd be back to fly? - and I understand some of the more 'exotic' posts may be going, but, hey!, we (I?) are/am going off thread