Virgin Recruitment
 

Seems Virgin have been caught short of pilots and will be recruiting very soon. Any Virgins care to comment.

TBE

News to me! Hope it's true. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Which Virgin? My mate is at Virgin Atlantic and he's getting the boot in three months time.

Virgin Atlantic are definitely NOT short of pilots at the moment as they are currently making people redundant.If things DO pick up at any time soon(Please God!),then they will be taking back their own ex-employees first.. .So basically there is no chance of any recruitment for ages.

Why is their pilot application form still up on the Virgin Atlantic website? Doesnt make sense?

MAX <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

Virgin Atlantic are not recruiting, they've just dropped 80 pilots.

VS are under way to have Air Atlanta operate a B742 under CC's aoc at MAN this summer operating flights to MCO but with VS flight deck. The flights will not be under Virgins name but Virgin holidays. . .Things dont get any better as I recently met an A340 F/O in New York and he's being laid off very shortly.

Over 70 Virgin pilots have opted for unpaid leave - up to 2 years worth in some cases. These will be bought back on line following any upturn, followed by those made redundant who want to come back. No recruitment for a very long time despite the web site still having job application forms.

doesnt make any sense VS offloading a 340 pilot - they kept all of those planes.

It's called LIFO. Common sense has little to do with it - it's all to do with fairness. The Classic is being scrapped in it's entirety, but only 14 Classic pilots were made redundant. All the other 140+ pilots leaving are from the 744 and 340 - the types that are being kept. This means a lot of costly and lengthy retraining.

Just like to point one thing out, Dan......

If the company requires more pilots (from those who have gone already), a compulsory redundant pilot will get the job before a pilot on unpaid, if that pilot is senior. I do believe this legal technicality is causing most angst with the managers at the moment. <img src="frown.gif" border="0">

moan on

Are you suggesting that if the 'line' moves down then rehiring should be out of seniority? There simply isn't an easy solution that will be fair to everyone but respecting seniority should be the aim of the company and BALPA. By introducing the concept of Unpaid Leave for those below the line the company has only complicated an already difficult situation.

BBK

Moan On, my understanding of UL is that those who have opted to take leave and not be paid, will have priority over those who have left the company and taken the redundancy money. If a redundant person wants to rejoin the company, it will be after those who have stayed.

This is how UL was sold, the choice was down to the individual. This I gather is also in keeping with management's thoughts, and should be the subject of some interesting legal 'discussion' if challenged.

The problem at the minute is WHEN to apply the policy. Will those on UL only see the advantage when the last person has been made redundant or will people be made redundant out of seniority when the line moves below them and they are on CR.

?

Dan, I concur with your explanation (1109 posting) of how the UL/CR criteria should work. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Bloke A is just below the line and on CR as from june. If, today, the line were to move below him, would he keep his job or would it go to the next available person on UL. This is the dilema. It appears that the company seem to consider bloke A redundant already even though he is still on the pay roll and that the decision to take CR was his. It wasnt, CR is compulsory, no one has asked for it, voted for it or ticked the appropriate box!

I don't think that is the situation. If A is now above the line, he isn't redundant under law, as it is his job that would have been redundant and not him. I can't see the company argueing that one sucessfully.

Edited for spillong.

[ 08 February 2002: Message edited by: Dan Winterland ]</p>

Has anyone actually found out where the line now is??

BBK

I got this second hand, but did Virgin and BALPA not sign an agreement stating that if your line moved or vacancies occur then unpaid leave guys would be recalled before the rest? Is that agreement still in place ?

TBE.