Airline pilots
[ch 6: page 43]In 2013, pilots union BALPA won an important victory campaigning against the use of ZHCs and agency work for trainee pilots at airline easyJet. BALPA succeeded in negotiating a trainee new entrant contract for trainees, limiting to 12 months the amount of time a trainee pilot would be required to spend under a ZHC with an agency, after which they become a directly employed easyJet second officer, with staged progression towards promotion and career development. The new contract brought the vast majority of pilots into the easyJet BALPA bargaining unit, enabling pilots to enjoy collective representation, giving them a voice and enabling conditions to be centrally negotiated.
Elsewhere in the aviation industry, it remains a key priority of BALPA to drive out casualisation. More information about BALPA’s campaign is available from its website (www.balpa.org/Campaigns/Casualisation-%281%29.aspx).