VA ATR EBA Negotiations
Well the time has come people. The ATR eba is up for negotiation. It seems like VA are going for a separate eba so the ATR may finally become a true member of Virgin Australia mainline.
Now to see what happens...Will the company continue to the treat the ATR crew like trash, play hardball and push away as any more pilots as they can? Will they continue to screw the existing pilots who have been wearing the VA uniform and flying a VA tail for 7 years in favour of people off the street (who join the 737 on better wages in a preferred bases)?
It's about time that VA started treating ATR crew like real VA pilots and allow them to move on to a position/base/fleet in accordance with the Group date of Join. Its the only fleet in the entire VA group with a 10% cap on movement on it, so its time for that to go. They should at the least be allowing pilots to bid and be awarded a position/base in line with their seniority. If they don't want to release them instantly, bypass pay should be paid considering the number of new hires on the the 737 in east coast bases on better T&C's.
They are short on pilots, in particular captains on the fleet. But who in their right mind would want to join the ATR with such terrible conditions when you could go to QF/JQ/QLink or even VA 737 and earn more money, with better career progression and better rosters?
It's time for the company to work WITH the pilots and not AGAINST them. It would be great to see the ATR flourish but with such neglect and continued poor management, more and more pilots are going to leave inevitably creating the demise of the ATR at VA.