Dear Agents,
In the beginning of the year, COVID-19 took the world by surprise, hitting the airline industry hard, grounding most of commercial operations worldwide. We all understand the severity of those events and its impact on the working conditions in the past months and all of us have pitched in and continue doing so as the company and agencies asked us to do, through our families and personal lives have increasingly been affected by this sacrifice, to a point it’s be come unbearable.
When it all began and the bigger airlines started to ground operations, the contract was abruptly modified with temporary measures to seize the opportunity to gain new slots and GROW in this crisis. We weren’t happy but never the less we understood the situation and accepted the terms as temporary according to what the agency was informing.
Then the crisis deepened and BAMBOO had no choice but to stop operations,
even missing payment of salary already owed, which as of today weare all still awaiting to collect.
As you well know Bamboo has resumed operations for a couple of months now, practically all of their aircraft are flying again and projections are positive for the near future, we can not say the same for its competitors (Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet and Jetstar-Pacific) who still have many aircraft grounded. Just to give some rough estimates, VNA has a fleet size approximately of 102 aircraft and 64 destinations (28 of which are heavy aircraft and many international destinations), Vietjet has approximately a fleet of 75 aircraft and 46 destinations (many of them international), BAMBOO has around fleet of 25 aircraft and around 20 something destinations, the majority of which are domestic flights, hiring new pilots and an ongoing expansion plan, so
the reality is different of the story weare being sold, no matter how many surveys are done
there is no point in comparing the contractualsituation between companies, as they are very different.
During the past week Pilots have been told about Bamboo
terms changing yet again, with no reasoning on why, as COVID is no more a valid point. In addition to this insult,
the terms keep changingRETROACTIVELY,showing absolutely no respect for contracts signed.
Even then, they are all imaginary numbers,
we are flying for free. No payment has been received, not even a date and sum of what it will be.
The absurdity and total lack of respect to our families and ourselves as professional airline pilots and as human beings is appalling, we came to Vietnam to build our life here while helping a newly formed airline make a mark in the industry through our expertise, compromise and professionalism, we’ve made sacrifices and demonstrated our willingness to help, getting nothing in return.
Sadly, also the agents have worked only as a poor bridge of communication, bringing no support nor representation, they have shined by its absence, in opposition to what was sold to us as if we were almost a family.What we have been observing now is that they are acting palely, washing their hands to continuous breaks on contracts and choosing to act merely as observers of the chaos, refusing to acknowledge the need to further act on our behalf. The continuous change of terms and zero efficient communication has made them totally unclear, no one knows what they are. The lack of payment and transparency plus the way the information has been transmitted to us has made our day exhausting and unbearable, we urgently need concrete answers, and we come together here to demand:
- a clear payroll with the total amount of the debt owed to each pilot, including the percentage left in February and full debt of March, May and June, including a payment plan for that debt, with dates and amounts
- to address that no “temporary base assignments” will be accepted until the policy is made clear and contracts respected, as well as salary payment accomplished
- to revert payment policies back to the addendum we signed (dated 18June,2020) with no further reductions plus a real compromise for them to be temporary with a fix date for its review.
- to provide a new payment scheme with NET figures to be paid monthly, no confusing formulas and deductions. Just to be clear, we will not accept the tax and social insurance contribution proposal.
You are all experienced people in the Aviation Industry and it’s needless to say that with all that’s been going on, despite our best efforts to maintain the high safety levels of our operations, it is undeniable that such irresponsible attitudes are pushing the safety limits beyond its acceptable boundaries, as crews are flying incredibly stressed with the increasing pressure of a never changing undefined situation together with the lack of proper payment. This can be observed by the great increase in safety related events in the past month, with great attention to the large number of events just internally published by the Bamboo’s Safety Department. The liability of an imminent safety related occurrence of great proportions lies on the hands of such irresponsible actions of all of you, including the Agencies.
For the safety of everyone involved, Company, Vietnamese Aviation Market, our dear passengers and our beloved families, we see no alternative rather than go on unpaid leave in the near future should these four basic demands not be observed. Being grateful to have a job is in no conflict with looking for what's objectively fair. We think all parts could compromise with better terms, improving in honesty and transparency.
As always, we extend to you our commitment to continue working on this project and hope Agencies and Bamboo can see eye to eye in this delicate matter.