Virgin pilots vote 97% in favour of strike action...

[disney_princess_85]

According to the report below, it's likely to be next month:

http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1076224/virgin-atlantic-faces-first-pilots-strike/

 

[CAROLINE4]

i cannot believe what i read in the above report!!!!

pilots who earn 6 figure sums.....
not happy with a 4% increase in their wages....
there comes a time when even moderate people say enough is enough!!!

i honestly cannot believe these glorified taxi drivers are going to get one ounce of sympathy from the general public! people who have saved hard for holidays they will no longer be able to go on, cause people earning 6 figure sums dont like there payrise!!!! teachers of whom i will soon be one earn 21 grand a year r having to work will into their 60's with less of a pension waiting for them!!!!!! GREEDY!!!!!!!!!

 

[sandshal]

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the teachers about to strike too?

I'm sick to the back teeth of all this whinging by select groups ............. the country's in crisis and as hard as it is, there's cuts to be made right across the board (I'm self employed and wouldnt dream of increasing my prices right now)

Fingers crossed the unions see sense so we can all enjoy our holidays we've worked so hard for!!!!!!

 

[CAROLINE4]

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the teachers about to strike too?

not sure they will actually strike and as im a student for this year i wont be part of it anyway! also if i happen to get a full time teaching job i will not be striking i will be counting my lucky stars!!!!!

 

[sandshal]

not sure they will actually strike and as im a student for this year i wont be part of it anyway! also if i happen to get a full time teaching job i will not be striking i will be counting my lucky stars!!!!!

Now that's the spirit, you have my vote!!!

I'm currently working out how I can juggle work with the strike day, so fingers crossed that gets called off too.

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

i cannot believe what i read in the above report!!!!

pilots who earn 6 figure sums.....
not happy with a 4% increase in their wages....
there comes a time when even moderate people say enough is enough!!!

i honestly cannot believe these glorified taxi drivers are going to get one ounce of sympathy from the general public! people who have saved hard for holidays they will no longer be able to go on, cause people earning 6 figure sums dont like there payrise!!!! teachers of whom i will soon be one earn 21 grand a year r having to work will into their 60's with less of a pension waiting for them!!!!!! GREEDY!!!!!!!!!

If the six figure sum is to be believed then yes this is quite unreasonable, and totally unfair on all the hard working customers who have saved for a very long time to have a break, but "glorified taxi drivers" is a little harsh.If i saw my locall taxi driver flying a plane, I'd rather swim

 

[Red-Snapper]

The most worrying thing I have read today is "we have contingency plans in place"

In other words VA will try to hang on to as much of our money as they can, keeping us in the dark until we turn up at the airport to be told "sorry no flight for you today".

hopefully it gets resolved before these "contingency plans" get put into effect.

 

[Danauk]

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the teachers about to strike too?

The unions have called for strike action, but that does not mean that teachers will strike. Teachers at my school, including myself, are not going out on strike. I guess that is why I will be particularly annoyed if anything happens to our flights.

 

[sandshal]

The unions have called for strike action, but that does not mean that teachers will strike. Teachers at my school, including myself, are not going out on strike. I guess that is why I will be particularly annoyed if anything happens to our flights.

Music to my ears

 

[jen_uk]

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the teachers about to strike too?

I'm sick to the back teeth of all this whinging by select groups ............. the country's in crisis and as hard as it is, there's cuts to be made right across the board (I'm self employed and wouldnt dream of increasing my prices right now)

Fingers crossed the unions see sense so we can all enjoy our holidays we've worked so hard for!!!!!!

I'm a teacher and will be on strike, can I just point out that we are not striking because of a lack of a pay rise but because of changes to the pension scheme. The proposed scheme will involve me paying approx £100 a month MORE into my pension and yet I can expect to recieve significantly less than the current pension pays out. This is not about teachers being greedy, I can barely afford the pension contributions as it is, if they go up by that amount I won't be able to afford them at all

 

[Red-Snapper]

My pension contribution has just gone up to 10% of salary - it was non-contributory only a few years ago. No one has suggested we strike....

Anyway back OT - still no news of proposed strike days ??

 

[taylor91]

Nope not yet... no news is good news right?? I do wish they would say something though... this not knowing lark is very stressful

 

[loobzuk]

I think their real axe to grind is that they haven't had a pay rise for 3 years and the proposed ones for the next 3 years are below inflation.

It's hard when they generally earn so much money to have any sympathy but while they've not had a pay rise, all of their bills have gone up at the same rate as everyone else. Part of the issue is that overseas and especially long haul travel is really struggling so I'm not sure if the money is even there to pay them what they are asking.

Regarding teachers, my children's school have both issued letters today saying that teachers don't actually have to decide until the day whether or not they are striking so it's all up in the air - even the schools aren't clear whether they are going to open as normal, half a day or not at all. Speaking to some teachers there they say that for some it's not optional, the unions are saying that everyone has to strike.

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that it does get resolved without the long-winded dispute that BA put us through. Meanwhile, we are calling them the "Pirates of the Atlantic"!!

 

[Sarah28]

just hearing about all this makes me so sad, people saving their hard-earned money and waiting years for trips of a lifetime, it's just not right i know what it's like to have a holiday cancelled and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Just hope they can come to some agreement for everybody. sending love and positive thoughts to everyone!

 

[jackieleanne]

I hope that they sort this out before anyone loses out on a holiday

It's not right that people fork out their hard earned money and look forward to trips of a lifetime only to have this occur.

If they really are already on six figure sums and are grumbling about the 4% on offer to them then

I would probably only earn that over a lifetime of work and when we were told that we wouldn't be getting a pay rise at the end of last year because of the economy yes we were disappointed but I for one certainly didn't claim with the current climate I'm lucky to have a job.

 

[DCLMan]

My heart bleeds for the Virgin pilots and teachers. I haven't had a pay rise for 4 years because the company I work for is "struggling". As for a pension plan, I'm banking on my children looking after me.

My son's school are on strike next Thursday, meaning I've got to sort out child care for him, which then costs me money. So I'm working to pay for teachers to strike.

Rant over.

 

[taylor91]

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel...ing-high-branson-hits-turbulence-2301357.html

The newest article on the strikes... this is a lot clearer than the Virgin website I'm hoping this is true so at least I can travel there.

 

[stba2006]

just hearing about all this makes me so sad, people saving their hard-earned money and waiting years for trips of a lifetime, it's just not right i know what it's like to have a holiday cancelled and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Just hope they can come to some agreement for everybody. sending love and positive thoughts to everyone!

I completely agree. Ok, they are getting a pay rise below inflation, but at least they are getting one. As many other posts have said, there are so many people who haven't had one for years.

I have been saving for my holiday for 3 years and i know a lot of people, in fact all of us guys, who save so hard and look forward to their holidays and to have it cancelled etc would be heartbreaking for most people.

Fingers crossed they can come to a resolution soon

 

[taylor91]

Update: http://www.balpa.org/News-and-campaigns/News/VIRGIN-STRIKE---CALL-TO-RICHARD-BRANSON.aspx
So this hopefully means anyone travelling before the 4th of July are going to WDW

 

[crabbie1]

Update: http://www.balpa.org/News-and-campaigns/News/VIRGIN-STRIKE---CALL-TO-RICHARD-BRANSON.aspx
So this hopefully means anyone travelling before the 4th of July are going to WDW

Not fare on the ones travelling after though is it