Originally Posted by
aviation_enthus
So it seems to be a bit of fault on the FA union side but also a lot to do with the obvious strategy being employed by QF.
First off can I say anyone (or union rep) using the argument that it’s “unsafe” to operate across multiple fleets, looses the debate immediately. It’s pretty clear from this thread and doing “the pub test” that most reasonable people can see straight through it. It’s a non issue. The safety risk is negligible.
The real issue seems to result from history. As others have stated a group of FA’s seem to have been slowly isolated through time to the point that they are now restricted to one fleet type. Clearly they are happy to work on multiple types, they seem to have done so in the past. But (it seems to me) the bigger issue is they don’t want to give up their terms and conditions.
This IMHO is where unions can fail sometimes. A continuous focus on the conditions for a single group (senior FA’s or pilots) to the detriment of other staff doing the same job, always seems to end up this way. Isolated and alone. The union may very well have “done their job” and maintained the conditions these FA’s enjoy, but in doing so have made them extremely vulnerable to a drastic change in their EBA. Or being fired.
Qantas is undoubtedly following a deliberate strategy here. But what do you expect? HR departments exist to manage these things, so it would be incredibly naïve of all of us to think there’s is NOT a game being played out.
HOWEVER, we are all subject to various market forces whether we like it or not. Union represented or not, when one airline “innovates” and become more productive, other airlines are forced to respond. Now I’m not saying this is only in relation to pay cuts, it could be fuel savings, IT systems or reduced maintenance requirements on new types. It’s the whole picture. There will always be a continuous process of change as the advantages ebb and flow between competing airlines.
I’m sorry to say but FA’s are relatively unskilled labour. Same with ground staff. Yes training is required. Yes attracting good people is important (salary IS a part of this). Experience on the job can play a part as well. But only to a point. If a reasonable training system exists that produces a consistent skill level for new staff, it’s not as critical to pay more to retain staff. That’s just reality.
The advantage pilots and engineers enjoy is the time it takes to make us “employable”. We get paid more because we have a skill set that is harder to source. Notice I didn’t say “more useful” or “we are better than you” (cause we are all just people trying to make a living), just harder to acquire. It’s no different to other qualified professionals. Do you want to earn more in your chosen career? Upgrade your skills. Invest in yourself!!
It’s also a warning to the rest of us pilots. Yes we should work to “improve our lot”. But we also need to be flexible to the outside reality of the wider industry. If whatever company you work for ends up loosing money and going bankrupt, it doesn’t matter how good your EBA is. To that point though, we also shouldn’t trade everything away in some vain hope we can save a company when the management is clearly incapable or the business model is broken. There’s a balance to be found, all staff in a relevant company play a part. A company is successful when all the staff and managers are able to move forward as a team.
Good luck to this group of FA’s, but I think in all honesty the future is not looking promising. Either way there’ll be a change forced on them.
Very well said. I think many of us know stories of amazing EBAs that've ended in tears when the respective workforce is eventually sidelined. Sometimes less is more in the long run, whether people like it or not.