Damn. I always thought pilots made a decent living off their skill.
Apparently I was wrong.
The Belgian University of Gent, as well as a commission institued by the European commision did research into the working conditions of pilots flying for budget airlines like Ryanair, and Norwegian Airlines.
Pilots who start their career there, don't get paid to fly. Instead, they start their career with a debt to the company, for being allowed to fly, and have to repay that by flying the first two years of service for free. A lot of other pilots are on a free-lance contract that does not allow them to have any critiscism on company policies, or refuse any flight job.
What's worrisome about this situation, is that a lot of pilots in such a position are afraid to call in sick, for fear of getting fired, and even worse, when they complain about unsafe situations, like the 3 airplanes that were found in a single day, by the EU research team, that barely had enough kerosine to make it to their destination (rerouting or long waiting loops could have been fatal), they will lose their job too, so they keep their mouth shut.
Our Dutch minister of infrastructure has called upon Brussels (the EU) to take measures against these unsafe labour constructs. It's not very likely anything will be done though, since when it comes to working conditions, the EU generally is very fast to cry "don't touch the freedom of travel and the freedom of commodity exchange".