Contractors replace permanent staff
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Contractors replace permanent staff
It seems like there's a move in the industry away from hiring pilots and cabin cxrew on a permanent basis and replacing them with contractors who have no notice period, pension rights etc 
Does anyone know which airlines are using this approach?
Ryanair: Brookfield (pilots) + Dalmac, Crewlink, St James, Cavok (cabin Crew)
Aerlingus: Parc Aviation (pilots and cabin crew)
Easyjet: apparently moving to this model??
What about the others?
Does anyone know which airlines are using this approach?
Ryanair: Brookfield (pilots) + Dalmac, Crewlink, St James, Cavok (cabin Crew)
Aerlingus: Parc Aviation (pilots and cabin crew)
Easyjet: apparently moving to this model??
What about the others?
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Don't get confused between a contract pilot and full time pilot being "contracted" through a front employment agency and being called a "contractor", so the airline avoids paying tax and/or conforming to EU employment law.
I meet a lot of easyContractors, and a lot of them are now on a fixed contract. Some are even given letters of intent from the start. To me it seems like an expensive way to do business...
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It was a guess about Parc because they used to be owned by Aerlingus. Might be wrong.
Parc Aviation Recruitment and Resourcing
I'm not a journalist by the way just work in the travel industry with dynamic packaging company so like to keep up to speed on what low cost carriers are doing. We're the ones that allow customers to compare prices and annoy the airlines so much...
Ryanair threatens to cancel passenger tickets - Telegraph
+ I'm doing a PPL at the moment
Parc Aviation Recruitment and Resourcing
I'm not a journalist by the way just work in the travel industry with dynamic packaging company so like to keep up to speed on what low cost carriers are doing. We're the ones that allow customers to compare prices and annoy the airlines so much...
Ryanair threatens to cancel passenger tickets - Telegraph
+ I'm doing a PPL at the moment
Don't know about aviation but I have heard of other employers terminating employment for a month every year so that employee cannot claim to be permanently employed and thereby enjoy the accompanying rights.
Happened to one of my children and to one of their friends.
I'd thought that 26 weeks gave one some considerable rights but someone more knowledgeable than I, e.g., Whirlygig, may clarify.
Happened to one of my children and to one of their friends.
I'd thought that 26 weeks gave one some considerable rights but someone more knowledgeable than I, e.g., Whirlygig, may clarify.
peders99;
Journalist or interested observer, you're a very long way behind developments in the western political economy if you're just now discovering these trends. These processes began around 1970 and in relation to your question, have essentially redefined the meaning of "employee".
Google "neoliberal" to start; then read David Harvey's "Neoliberalism" for a good overview of these trends. If you ask a question about, "wither pensions?" you will get an answer that is merely descriptive, but if you do a bit of research and start peeling away the layers you may begin to understand what has happened to ordinary employees, the loss of pensions being merely one aspect of how industry has set aside employees as expensive liabilities. Industry will of course not see it this way.
These views are not uncontroversial but any response that will have substance to it, to a question concerning pensions, wages and working conditions not to mention intangible matters such as employee loyalty, dedication and focus, will not be complete and will instead perpetuate limited understanding of the issues unless at least some of these notions are researched and explored.
To address your question directly, in the US, the airline industry has, largely though not exclusively through Chapter 11 procedures, slowly destroyed, (stolen, some would say) employee pensions. I suspect some European operators have learnt the lesson by example. The issues are not unique to the airline industry of course but your question was in relation to this industry. Google "Sullenberger" and "Congress" for an address that captures some of what is conveyed here. It does not seem to be available in pdf format anymore but the youtube video is available.
Journalist or interested observer, you're a very long way behind developments in the western political economy if you're just now discovering these trends. These processes began around 1970 and in relation to your question, have essentially redefined the meaning of "employee".
Google "neoliberal" to start; then read David Harvey's "Neoliberalism" for a good overview of these trends. If you ask a question about, "wither pensions?" you will get an answer that is merely descriptive, but if you do a bit of research and start peeling away the layers you may begin to understand what has happened to ordinary employees, the loss of pensions being merely one aspect of how industry has set aside employees as expensive liabilities. Industry will of course not see it this way.
These views are not uncontroversial but any response that will have substance to it, to a question concerning pensions, wages and working conditions not to mention intangible matters such as employee loyalty, dedication and focus, will not be complete and will instead perpetuate limited understanding of the issues unless at least some of these notions are researched and explored.
To address your question directly, in the US, the airline industry has, largely though not exclusively through Chapter 11 procedures, slowly destroyed, (stolen, some would say) employee pensions. I suspect some European operators have learnt the lesson by example. The issues are not unique to the airline industry of course but your question was in relation to this industry. Google "Sullenberger" and "Congress" for an address that captures some of what is conveyed here. It does not seem to be available in pdf format anymore but the youtube video is available.
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Of course the pilots are their own worst enemies here. As the employers rip up Ts and Cs that would normally cause a migration of their workers to the better employers, pilots persist with seniority defining everything they do. Just imagine if you discarded it for a while and let all the lowly paid, put-upon Captains move to airlines that offered a better deal, in the LHS. Watch the race to the bottom go into reverse, ask any train driver who has been around since deregulation. The employers know that anyone who has been with them for 10 years plus is loathe to move. So they can do what they like to them. They're not loyal, just prisoners of their own system!
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@ Basil
The regular 'sacking" of your child won't work for very long. If the purpose of a procedure is purely to circumvent a law, the courts will ignore this and look on it as unbroken employment.
Not quite the same, but there have been recent cases in France where companies ( autoroute toll-booths) which just kept on rolling over fixed-term contracts (albeit over four or five years ) were fined for not treating the employees as full-time normal staff as they obviously were.
The regular 'sacking" of your child won't work for very long. If the purpose of a procedure is purely to circumvent a law, the courts will ignore this and look on it as unbroken employment.
Not quite the same, but there have been recent cases in France where companies ( autoroute toll-booths) which just kept on rolling over fixed-term contracts (albeit over four or five years ) were fined for not treating the employees as full-time normal staff as they obviously were.
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I can tell you my story:
2002 Alitalia cadet, waiting to be hired as a pilot till 2005, so worked for Alitalia as a cabin crew for 7 seasons, means 7 fixed term contract for a total of 24 non consecutive months, always 4+6 (with 2 weeks interruption in between) every year cause the law said i could be considered full time if i worked more than 10 months. I then left the cabin work to go to another airline to pick up my flight deck seat, but some of my collegues less lucky are still there and are at the 20th season, some at the 25th season, being aged 35 and having no pension, no rights, no leave. Nothing.
This is the west.
2002 Alitalia cadet, waiting to be hired as a pilot till 2005, so worked for Alitalia as a cabin crew for 7 seasons, means 7 fixed term contract for a total of 24 non consecutive months, always 4+6 (with 2 weeks interruption in between) every year cause the law said i could be considered full time if i worked more than 10 months. I then left the cabin work to go to another airline to pick up my flight deck seat, but some of my collegues less lucky are still there and are at the 20th season, some at the 25th season, being aged 35 and having no pension, no rights, no leave. Nothing.
This is the west.
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EU Employment law is very simple with regards of "Contractors":
If you get Uniform, Roster and badge from the airline, you are EMPLOYED and not a self-contractor. hence, the EMPLOYER (thus the airline) is responsible for the social security, taxes etc, not you.
the accused in False self-employment, which is the case with most "contractors" through agencies, is ALWAYS the EMPLOYER.
If you get Uniform, Roster and badge from the airline, you are EMPLOYED and not a self-contractor. hence, the EMPLOYER (thus the airline) is responsible for the social security, taxes etc, not you.
the accused in False self-employment, which is the case with most "contractors" through agencies, is ALWAYS the EMPLOYER.
Daily Mirror Campaign – Gizza Proper Job (circa 6th feb 2011)
GMB is supporting the Daily Mirror’s campaign – Gizza Proper Job.
Bogus self-employment - a scam where an employer falsely declares their staff to be self-employed in order to avoid paying employer's National Insurance along with basic employment rights – directly affects hundreds of thousands of workers in Britain and indirectly affects every taxpayer.
Lack of enforcement by an understaffed HMRC and lack of clarity over the legal definition of self-employment leaves employers free to exploit loopholes to cut their costs.
Bogusly self-employed workers don't get sick pay, holiday pay, redundancy rights, can't claim Jobseeker's Allowance if the work dries up and won't even qualify for a full state pension when they retire.
It's endemic in a number of key industries and services, for example, construction, taxi driving and courier driving, and growing in others, for example, retail, cleaning and other service industries, aviation and journalism. We've even heard of the first self-employed mineworkers!
The Daily Mirror's Gizza Proper Job campaign has identified a number of household names - Ryanair, Addison Lee, Hermes Parcelnet, Barrett Homes and charity collectors used by British Red Cross, RSPCA, among others - that unfairly designate their staff self-employed.
Construction workers are three times more likely to be self-employed. The Treasury estimates up to 300,000 construction workers could be bogusly self-employed and puts the costs to the Treasury at ￡350m a year. Prof Mark Harvey, of the University of Essex, believes the figure is higher and costs over £1.7bn a year in lost tax.
Courier drivers are routinely designated self-employed despite working for the same engager for years, delivering parcels at set times and finding it hard to take time off. After paying for their vehicle, fuel and insurance, below minimum wages are common.
Factory and agricultural workers, frequently from eastern Europe, work "self-employed" for gangmasters with no security for below minimum wage. Romanian and Bulgarian workers are particularly vulnerable to this exploitation as they can only work as self-employed "entrepreneurs", except for some rare circumstances.
Bogus self-employment typically increases after a recession and this one's no different. Numbers of self-employed reached a record 4m last year, increasing as employees lose jobs.
The campaign already is supported by TUC and a string of unions including Unite, GMB and UCATT. Ed Miliband signed up shortly after becoming party leader and the Gangmasters' Licencing Authority supports the campaign after seeing similar problems in the agricultural sector.
GMB is supporting the Daily Mirror’s campaign – Gizza Proper Job.
Bogus self-employment - a scam where an employer falsely declares their staff to be self-employed in order to avoid paying employer's National Insurance along with basic employment rights – directly affects hundreds of thousands of workers in Britain and indirectly affects every taxpayer.
Lack of enforcement by an understaffed HMRC and lack of clarity over the legal definition of self-employment leaves employers free to exploit loopholes to cut their costs.
Bogusly self-employed workers don't get sick pay, holiday pay, redundancy rights, can't claim Jobseeker's Allowance if the work dries up and won't even qualify for a full state pension when they retire.
It's endemic in a number of key industries and services, for example, construction, taxi driving and courier driving, and growing in others, for example, retail, cleaning and other service industries, aviation and journalism. We've even heard of the first self-employed mineworkers!
The Daily Mirror's Gizza Proper Job campaign has identified a number of household names - Ryanair, Addison Lee, Hermes Parcelnet, Barrett Homes and charity collectors used by British Red Cross, RSPCA, among others - that unfairly designate their staff self-employed.
Construction workers are three times more likely to be self-employed. The Treasury estimates up to 300,000 construction workers could be bogusly self-employed and puts the costs to the Treasury at ￡350m a year. Prof Mark Harvey, of the University of Essex, believes the figure is higher and costs over £1.7bn a year in lost tax.
Courier drivers are routinely designated self-employed despite working for the same engager for years, delivering parcels at set times and finding it hard to take time off. After paying for their vehicle, fuel and insurance, below minimum wages are common.
Factory and agricultural workers, frequently from eastern Europe, work "self-employed" for gangmasters with no security for below minimum wage. Romanian and Bulgarian workers are particularly vulnerable to this exploitation as they can only work as self-employed "entrepreneurs", except for some rare circumstances.
Bogus self-employment typically increases after a recession and this one's no different. Numbers of self-employed reached a record 4m last year, increasing as employees lose jobs.
The campaign already is supported by TUC and a string of unions including Unite, GMB and UCATT. Ed Miliband signed up shortly after becoming party leader and the Gangmasters' Licencing Authority supports the campaign after seeing similar problems in the agricultural sector.
