Originally Posted by
Parrot Pilot
COVID didn’t vote up the B scale - pilots who were scared of their own shadow and only cared about themselves did.
You are wrong there. It was no shadow, it was 20 years of Qantas replacing us with cheaper labour.
Look around;
Jetstar with 80 jets
Network with 15 jets
JetConnect With 6 jets
Alliance contracted for ~26 jets
NJS with 29 jet on order.
All these planes, flying routes we used to fly, (even wearing our uniform and livery half the time) but Qantas set up or bought these entities to do it without us. And they had no problem hiring the hundreds and hundreds of pilots to do it.
So you can tell me Qantas were bluffing when they explicitly told us they would have other pilots fly the A350’s if we didn’t vote Yes? That was going to be the one time they actually didn’t sideline us (despite being crystal clear they would).
Then imagine how many new S/O’s would be hired onto any LH contract if the A350 was not flown by mainline, especially given it is the replacement for 50% of the LH fleet.
Yeah, the new S/O rate is **** but it lasts only as long as you’re an S/O (it’s actually a pay rise for the first 18 months) and that may only be a day currently. But given the existential threat to mainline LH, the fact that PIA was not even an option as we were ALL stood down indefinitely and no one knew if there would even be a paycheck in the next 2 years, the pilots were placed into an impossible situation where we had to eat one of 2 **** sandwiches which would effect future pilots for years to come.
I will admit I voted yes and I have admitted it to all the new S/O’s I fly with and have explained the circumstances.
If the outcome was so terrible then I don’t know how we still have so many people applying for these positions. Perhaps they see the pay and conditions secured where they will spend the majority of their career and may one day understand the reason we did what we did.