RAT5 , sorry, no further insights from my part, the document was passed on to me, and is posted , as I said, purely for info of anyone who is (or could be ) affected by the more zealous attitude recently adopted by some authorities (after years of ignoring same, as they were assuredly aware of the situation, they are certainly not that "dumb" nor blind/deaf. . . and the circumstances being investigated have been public knowledge for long enough. )

RAT 5 - Brookfield in Ryanair is dying. No new Brookfield contracts are being issued. All contractors are being offered contracts via Storm when their Brookfield contracts expire. For a period before I left, some were offered either Ryanair or Storm contracts but I understand this has now ceased.

My guess would be the intention is to wait for the last BRK contract to expire and then close Brookfield down.

Which might suggest something was not 100% kosher. How is the Storm set up different from the BRK one? i.e Why is the Storm construction less smelly than the BRK one?

I don't know any ins and outs as I never contracted through them but the setup is not quite the same as the old BRK Irish mess and, more importantly, Storm is a genuine agency which has only a part of its business placed with RYR. The fact that BRK did 99.8% of its business with Ryanair I understand was one of the big nails in its coffin from a tax/self-employment point of view.

Of course, Ryanair being Ryanair, Storm contracts pay FOs a lower rate than the Brookfield ones did. They haven't dared change the rate for Captains.

I found the BRK & Storm contracts unequivocally similar, with some minor clarifications in the latter.

What about the "Irish mess" ?

The lid must have come off these arrangements when Brookfields sued a Dutch pilot over failure to give due notice to terminate his contract. The case was heard on 26/07/2013 at the Central London County Court by HHJ Hand QC.

The full case transcript can be accessed at:

http://13oldsquare.com/files/documen...proved_jdg.pdf

It is a complete and uncensored revelation of the whole affair.

Here is a little taster, the judge`s comment about one of the claimant`s witnesses, a Mr.Declan Dooney.

"I found Mr Dooney to be a voluble and frequently glib witness, who for the
most part was not telling me the truth save in two respects." Para no 85 of court transcript.

Those lucky enough to get the job also had an accountant thrown in the bargain.

Here is the relevant extract from para 2

"In
order to fly planes for Ryanair a pilot had to choose a firm of accountants from a list of
accountants nominated by the Claimant and had to use a service company provided by
the accountants, of which service company he or she would become a director and
shareholder and, at least for the purposes of tax treatment by the Irish Revenue, be
regarded as an employee of the AESP. That service company would then enter into the
Contract with the Claimant whereby the service company would provide the services of
the pilot to the Claimant, which would, in turn, provide those services to Ryanair"

172_Driver - the later Storm contacts offered €5/hr less than the equivalent BRK in exchange for a 35h/month minimum pay guarantee.

The top rate on the latest contracts offered to Cadet FOs is €10/hr less than in mine. They are driving down the cost in the RHS as much as they possibly can, yet wonder why we all left. That's another thread though!

Except for the rates I meant, the 'Irish mess' was still present in the Storm contract. People working all over Europe throwing money in the Irish pot just because they're forced to work through an Irish Ltd.

Interesting, didn't expect that. It would be interesting to know why BRK and Ryanair agreed on a compromise agreement with on of the german pilots last November. It looks like that they want to avoid a judgement.

In Europe nowadays it is better to have a white vest - means pay your tax and social security. Europe has become(it always was ^^) very small and normally it is hard to hide if they are once tracking you.

15-20 years ago it was easy, even 10 years ago still possible without really having sleepless nights. I would not risk getting called in front of a court for social security violations(tax wise it is even worse).

Don't get me wrong - I know that people are still doging the system, but I don't think it is a wise thing to do. I do know pilots that earn 10k++ in Russia flying for an owner, still having a fake job back in central europe(don't want to specify, but it is a very social state) so they safe peanuts on social insurance.
And building houses. One day the tax office will knock on their door and asking how it is possible to build that house and nice car on 500 Euros/month. But some never get enough and eventually they will pay(a lot).

at least 3 UK airlines come to mind that use self employed contractors, but there are more. Have seen 2 contracts myself but did not go for it.

eJ may have and may still, I don't know. The other two ?

It still seems odd that Mike Ashely & Sports Direct can attract so much focus & energy from government committees about the work practices in that organisation, yet the smelly constructions going on in our profession seem not to raise any eyebrows?
Answers on a postcard to......BALPA? IALPA? Unite?

A few years ago UK Gov. discovered that some of its own civil servants, some of lofty status, had set up bogus self-employed constructions. They had only one customer - UK Gov. - and were taxing themselves as self employed with associated benefits and allowances. Once realised it was stamped on smartly. Why not spread the net wider?

Call Channel 4 Dispatches and get them to make a program about it, should get the ball rolling. :E :ok:

Saw West Atlantic advertising for just this kind of contract today. Also Jet2 and DHL UK do the same.

I ask again, what did Sports Direct do to attract the dire of the UK Gov? Not the HRMC tax office but the heavy hitters in committee. Some of their work practices under scrutiny sound familiar.
1. agency workers on zero hour contracts.
2. on duty for no pay.
3. no sick pay.
4. no holiday pay.
5. an atmosphere of intimidation

etc. etc. and this was under the nose of Unite union. God help those on their own.

IRISHPILOT
 

Irish. What is it you think DHL UK do?

MOL the Saint.....