no seniority-system in easyJet

[733driver]

Iīve got the following questions for you easy-drivers out there:

I know eJ doesnīt have a seniority list. As a current Deutsche BA (soon to be easyJet Germany, hopefully) pilot I am a little worried that we might have to give up our seniority system alltogether. In my current company a lot is based on that list: upgrades, roster requests, parttime, vacation and so on.

I am aware that the seniority system has its downsides. You allways start at the bottom of the list should you wish or be forced to change companies.

But, it makes your career a lot more predictable, I think.

eJ management tell us that they curently have such a demand for commanders, that everyone who satisfies the requirements gets an upgrade.

But, what happens if the expansion stops and it will have to stop someday? Who will be next for that longawaited upgrade?

Does anyone know whether Southwest uses a seniority system or not?

Donīt pretty much all major airlines have one?

I think it makes a big difference whether a company is just a stepping stone in the career of a pilot or THE career goal.

Southwest certainly is a career airline in the US and I donīt see why eJ shouldnīt be one in Europe in the long run? Afterall, not everyone wants to fly long haul...

[captainflame]

SouthWest, as most majors in the US, has a unyielding seniority system.

The garantee that such a system remains a priority, in my opinion, is strong pilot representation.

[733driver]

captainflame,

thanks for your info and welcome to PPRuNe (I noticed this is your first post) !!!

all EZdrivers,

looks like the introduction of a seniority system is not exactly at the top of your wish-list...

[flufdriver]

from personal experience i can tell you that a seniority based system for Pilots career advancement or also the now quite common movement in the opposite direction, is like democracy, far from perfect, but beats every other system hands down. Seniority can be a stabilising factor among any group of people, the absence thereof promotes backstabbing, character assasinations and a**kissing in order to get promoted or prevent demotion or layoff.

I believe a seniority based system is beneficial to both the employer and the employee!

[penguin]

Seniority system works best. You have my vote.

[jetgirl]

No seniority in easy.... Since all join with wildly different experience (from 200 hours to 20000 hours) then I don't think it would really work anyway. We also don't bid for routes or flights.

Since we work 6 and 3 (sort of when things get better) then you are allocated a group within which you bid for leave. As for promotion - seniority or no seniority list, if the airline stops growing there is a halt to promotion. They do use date of joining for some things (eg base transfer requests) and no doubt if there was a halt to promotion this would come into play somewhere as well.

I think DBA may well continue to operate as a separate part of easy (just as EJ Swiss does) so I doubt you will be overtaken with hoards of pilots jumping in front of you. Perhaps a few Belgiums trying to get closer to home.....

Sorry you didn't get more answers but we are all working too hard...............:o

[733driver]

jetgirl,

thanks for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate it espacially since I know how busy you all are at the moment.

If you find the time could you give me some more details on how different or operationaly indepent easy swiss is from easy UK (things like rosters, pay system, eg. do they do basic pay + sector pay...?, anything else that you feel may be of interest for us here in dba).

Thanks again to everybody who would like to answer

[Commando]

As far as I know Top Swiss are run along very similar lines to easyJet. They have basic + sector pay same as us but not sure how the figures compare. I am not certain where their rosters come from but I think they're rostered from easyLand in Luton. Theny have similar but not exactly the same SOPs. Seperate AOC.
Anybody from easyJet Switzerland care to comment?

[Engee73]

I think you will find that DB will be integrated into easyjet. The swiss operation is different due to the fact that it is not currently in the EU. It is expected that we will share the same AOC with the swiss in due course.

I expect that the DB crews will be given a deal that will apply to them only in terms of salary however I would expect the conditions to be similar to what ever we have in the UK.

As always supply and demand seems to be the driver here and unfortunately the concept whereby we would be in the lead in terms of pay and conditions seeems to have been replaced by we will get paid according to market conditions. Its a pity we are not doing this differently and setting high standards in this area as the loyalty of many crew seems to have been lost lately.

The company has a great future if we can sort out decent terms and conditions which are currently sub-standard.

I am looking forward to meeting our DB counterparts in the near future.

NG

[Denti]

Last thing we heard was that dba will work under it's own AOC. If you're based in germany you have to work according german working laws and they are different to the british ones. dba pilots are represented by Vereinigung Cockpit, the german ALPA and the cabin crew is represented by Verdi, the biggest german union. Right now we have a good pay-deal which is based on seniority and a deal which regulates our working conditions.

if you want to know more about these deals, just ask.

Denti