It rapidly replaced the 4, 500 striking staff with just 1, 900 temporary workers (and is training another 400) drawn from the pool of staff laid off by other airlines.

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But several long-serving employees said the company was avoiding hefty redundancy pay-offs by putting them into a pool of staff awaiting redeployment.

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The roughly 1, 750 people kicked out of the schools would stay on the payroll but move into a pool of rotating staff members without permanent job placements.

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