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Look, I have written up everything from a request to clean the windscreens to more serious defects and will continue to do so. My fault for misinterpreting the tone of ALAEA Fed Sec’s post as mischievous, sorry Steve.
All good and I understand your point. We need not take PIA like 2011. The PIA then led to determined outcomes by the FWC. I know LAMEs did very well out of that. I suspect you guys/gals did ok as well, certainly you didn't have to give up anything to get a pay rise. Not like this time where it appears they want you to sell the unborn. You only need to chat to your wives/husbands (I assume you are all married to Flight Attendants) to find out how 2 pay scales has created division in their ranks.
The LAMEs EA expired in Jan 2019. They have offered us nothing. We haven't taken PIA. We don't need to. Qantas has been gutted entirely by the decision makers. No parts. Not enough Engineers. Flights always departing short crewed. Horrible food. Cabins falling apart. I am part of a Frequent Flyer forum and they are always posting about 2-3 hour wait times on the phone to enquire about things. This airline has been destroyed.
The worst of it is not replacing aircraft. The CEO has not ordered one new aircraft type since he started. I don't think he intends to order new planes any time soon. Aircraft are 1/3 of a normal airlines expense. That cost has been removed and as a result, Qantas are always crowing about their excellent financial performance. We all know that Mickey Mouse could run a profitable airline if no new planes are ordered or paid for. In 2008 the average Qantas aircraft age was around 7.5 years. Now it is 12.2. It is being set up to fail.
This EA threat is very poor form but not unexpected. So they need to order planes by end of March.....that doesn't mean they need a new EA by end of March. They could continue to negotiate in good faith past March and settle when negotiations have matured. If that is towards the end of this year, that leaves ample time before this new fantasy plane is meant to arrive. If they can't settle, they can open their new company in a few years time. They shouldn't threaten you like this and certainly don't need to rush an answer to your EA.
Now back to the LAMEs and defects. With every department so short staffed, they are expecting us all to take short cuts to make a broken system work. They want to create new "norms" that will lead to reduced safety. Engineering managers (many with no Engineering knowledge) are telling LAMEs not to look so thoroughly at aircraft because it may impact schedule. We know this pressure is also being applied to you without your knowledge. It may be through EA clauses that leave you stranded without pay if you ground an aircraft or having to do extra onerous paperwork to write something up. I know this is real and happening. We did a study of 800 flights out of Perth to unmanned ports and 800 flights back to Perth. 91% of all defects were reported on the return Perth sector. They have created a system where safety comes second.
As professionals we must ignore the external factors and conduct good airmanship at all times. This means reporting all defects regardless of their nature. If we collectively reject the concept of profit before safety and show that the airline is not being run properly, we may achieve the change that is needed to get the airline back to where it once was.