Industrial action!

[wind check]

Just wait untill the end of 2009 and you will realise how bad the situation is for everybody. PAX demand is expected to be very low this summer, and as you know, summer is when the airlines are supposed to make money.
MOL is also talking a lot of bull**** but he must really be worried about the near future.

[Elephant and Castle]

You just do not know what you are talking about. I fly FULL airplanes day in day out. FULL. I have no doubt that many companies are suffering in the present downtrend but others are prospering and easyJet is among the latter. Nobody can deny what I see everyday with my own eyes. If you do not beleive me log into easyJet.com and look at the prices and seats left available.

We have a contract and we can expect this contract to be fulfilled unless both parties agree otherwise. We are not after a payrise here just demanding that easyJet fulfills their contractual obligations.

I repeat many companies might be struggling but Easyjet is doing very well and our management will collect MASSIVE bonuses this year.

[ZBMAN]

Originally Posted by GreatBelt

Easy have given some Managers a pay rise and appears to pay bonuses this year as well.That can hardly be a company in severe trouble.

Oh, you mean just like AIG?

[wind check]

elephant, unfortunately, having full load does NOT mean that the company is making the benefits they need. As I said, just wait a further couple of months and you will see.
I understand you're a bit pissed off to see your conditions getting worse, but I do reckon that any strike would put any company into a severe danger those days.

[A319-100]

This is just getting silly. Easyjet is not struggling at the moment. In fact they have done better this winter than forecast and have circa 800 million pounds in the bank. The future no-one can tell. If the company were struggling and management led by example by not taking pay rises, bonuses and generally sharing the pain with us then of course we would follow suit. What THIS is about is the degrading of our terms and conditions whilst at the same time a similar amount (in fact more) is being awarded to the AMB in bonus/payrise. This is not about saving the company money. This is about maximising profits to line the pockets of our managers. The main cost to the airline throughout the downturn has been poor managerial decisions which have been mentioned above, NOT the staff who are now more fuel efficient and hard working than ever. That is all we can do. Go to work and demonstrate good airmanship and be company minded. Most I work with are just that. So in essence, we are grateful to have our jobs, we are gateful to be in a company like EasyJet during a time like this but, while the AMB are lining their pockets at our expense and not benefitting the company, we are losing condition after condition. This is why Industrial action is being threatened. not because we are a spoilt bunch who have no sympathy for our fellow colleagues who are unemployed at the moment. We are hardly that selfish and narrow minded.

[wind check]

About the fuel hedging, every airlines have done the same mistake, but maybe we should have followed your advice and knowledge, because you seem to know even more than god does.
You should replace AH, because he is a bad boy and bad manager isnt he?

[Elephant and Castle]

How much is your bonus for screwing your colleagues Wind Check?

[Stone Cold II]

We can always help reduce the Managment's payrises and bonus by stopping single engine taxing, keep both packs on along with the APU on the ground (why should we freeze first thing in the morning) and stop doing any Flap 3 landings not that I see many people do them these days.

Management continue to hammer into us that we as Pilots have the biggest impact on Fuel and should do as much single engine taxi etc. as possible to help increase profits and also ensure they get their bonuses.

They want to keep knocking us down then why the hell are we helping them? We get no thanks for it. Why should they award themselves large payrises and make the crews pay for it?

Would love to see their faces when they look at the data on how many aircraft are carrying out single engine taxi and over a 2 weeks period it was a big fat 0.

I realise we must ensure the future of the company but easyJet is doing very well under these trying economic climates and is nowhere near on the brink of collapse.

I remember A.H. when he joined going round saying let's make easyJet a career airline and make it a GREAT PLACE TO WORK!!!!!!

Recently did SEP up at lala land and it looks like our leader or any manager has lost the balls to turn up for the business chat at the end of SEP day to take questions.

Rant over.

[Dan Winterland]

It doesn't take a strike to make a point. Just encourage some like for like action. For example, to complain about the lack of food and water, just take a 30 minute lunchbreak in the terminal in between sectors. That should be enough!

So long as lots of people do it so that individuals don't take the heat.

[tocamak]

There clearly must be more to this than those on the outside can appreciate but having met some of the balpa reps they do not seem a reactionary lot who would take action on a trivial affair. The issue of the water restriction by the company seems daft given the restrictions on an individual getting their own onboard. I would say you should drink one of those 500ml bottles per stretch to avoid problems with dehydration. If the crews already took a hit on pay to preserve access to other drinks then surely that should be honoured. Don't know about the contract captains issue so can't comment.

One slightly off-thread comment though related:-

long time non members of the union are rejoining

And then they will leave again when it's all over but still benefit from others hard work. Leeches, I wouldn't let them back in temporarily if I had my way (which of course I don't!)

[skianyn vannin]

Like the post Stone Cold I, but remember there are lots of other ways to waste gas! ATC "descend when ready". Surely that means descend now. Make sure you are stable at 1000' by judicious use of speedbrake and configure nice and early.

Quite frankly I am sick and tired of AH and Cor O'Leary telling me I must be shafted so that they can line their pockets with even bigger bonuses. For those of you from other airlines who think we are being feckless you are probably unaware of these facts.

AH's basic salary is some £590k. His bonus last year was an extra £1million on top of this. So his total remuneration is greater than that of MOL and Willie Walsh combined!

Don't get me wrong. I am all in favour of the company being successful. What I do not like is money being taken from my pocket to line those of the money grabbing city spivs!

End of rant

[Centreline747]

As an observer (ie I don't work for EZ or FR) I would like to point out something that is probably obvious.

For years in aviation, in my time anyhow, management have endeavoured to 'nibble' away at employees T's +C's, especially when times are hard.
IF anything is given up, however trivial it may seem, you can guarantee it will be far more difficult to 'claw' it back when things improve.
This is one of the reasons the aviation industry has lost so much ground in the last 30 years.

Nobody wants industrial action as that can, and has in the past, lead to the demise of a Company. There are enough unemployed, experienced guys and girls out there already.

I don't know the answer but feel that burning the extra fuel is probably the most effective way of making your point as long as it can be done in a justifiable way. Why should you freeze in your 'place of employment' by not running the APU (as Stone Cold II pointed out - H&S issue there?!)

Good luck

Rgds

CL747

[Centreline747]

Clara

It is more a matter of principle - why should AH line his pockets with gold at the expense of a few tea and coffee servings. You can bet he has it on tap in his office- for free!!

When I began my aviation career (long before you were born) there were few shareholders who were out for themselves and times were good and there were many 'perks' but like I pointed out it has been eroded slowly by the bean-counters who are only interested in one thing - keeping the shareholders happy.

I am not familiar with EZ SOP's but there are ways of using fuel without breaking any such (and without compromising safety of course!) and if that makes everyone feel a little better and gets the point over then good luck.
After all, a happy environment is a safe one.

Rgds

CL747

[fireflybob]

You don't have to break the SOPs to make your point (and neither, I believe, should you!). Quite the reverse, just WORK TO RULE! No discretion, no fly with ANY defects on a/c, no visual approaches - just fly the full procedural approach, etc - in fact follow the SOPs to the letter and some more!

I wish the Easy Pilots good luck - the industry has seen Ts and Cs eroding on a weekly basis and someone needs to take a stand.

[Cancel2LateLunches]

Clara, the figures you quote are for some Euro contracts. UK contracts which most pilots are on are quite considerably less than those figures.

[Centreline747]

Clara

.....also cannot find anyone suggesting "breaking" SOP's.

I would like to think all on here are more professional than that (although not all come across that way )

Rgds

CL747

[qualitycontrol]

LGW Capt - £4800-£5100/month.

[capt. solipsist]

It appears the drums are beating amongst the troops at Easy for industrial action over the latest from the inept pilot management team.

When reality sinks in, has any pilot group ever really gone on strike?

YES, the Airline Pilots' Association of the Philippines (ALPAP) did in June 1998. I should've been a 744 capt now instead of an expat 734 were it not for that. Was invited back in after the case was resolved with finality in 2003. But NO regrets. While feelings of unease continue to linger among those who became scabs when they meet us, guys who live up to their word walk with head up high and dignity intact.

[Stone Cold II]

Clara nobody says anything about breaking SOP's with regards to us say not doing any single engine taxi for a period of time to make a point is not breaking a SOP since single engine taxi is at the commanders discretion.

You should know that Clara being as you are supposed to be working for us for the summer period. Looking at your post from other threads I doubt you will last for very long before the axe is swung, that is if you really are joining which I doubt.

[THE POINTY END]

I spent quite a few years in FR and lived through the continuing degrading t&c's such as the taking away of crew water, no traveling expences, paying for hotels etc. It was a totally miserable place to be. The feeling I have witnessed amoung crews at ezy is almost identical to those that were felt in Ryanair. It's a horrid avenue to continue down. I can understand a difficult economic climate and the need to reduce costs, but why is it always the crews who have to pay? During my last rotation, not once was there a GPU for us on stand at my home base. Sorry, it was there, but no ground personel had turned it on and plugged it in. So, lets burn the fuel for the APU then. There are trained cabin crew who have not had their contracts renewed and are forced to leave. At the same time the company continue to train new cabin crew at a cost. We fly with poorly stocked bars and can't sell to the punter. And because of this the cabin crew get it in the neck for not meeting the cost per head. Even when we ask for a new bar we're told no. So why should we as crews who do try to save money for the company and go the extra mile have to make up for the for huge mismanagment from those above us? I don't think striking is the answer as it will undoubtadly put our jobs at risk in such a difficult economic climate, but give it a year or so (peaks and troughs) when the market place is better, we can vote with our feet and go where the grass will be alot greener. Treat people like crap and don't expect ANY loyalty. That was the how it was in FR, I'm just sad that EZY is becoming an orange version.