QFRegional, glad you got that off your chest? Its all very true though. If you look closely at the numbers QF have only employed 32 people externally into the short haul division since March 2003 (thats 16 per year). Qantas were fully aware of this situation when our last EBA was being negotiated but no concessions/changes/suggestions on career progression were or have been fourthcoming due to their changed hiring practices.
Mr Seatback 2 I think the point QFRegional is making is a fair point. There is crew who are in the 5th and 6th year with Eastern now while Jet* and (some junior - ground school junior)Southern crew are enjoying the fruits of short haul right now.
We have always been told Progression has absolutley nothing to do with the EBA and cannot and will not be discussed during an EBA. However this was introduced last time by the company via withholding of the increased numbers (by the way its 20 for Eastern like we are ever going to see the day 20 go in a year) until the EBA was voted up but still told by the FAAA progression has nothing to do with the EBA.
My point being how could Impulse negotiate progression during the EBA. What did you trade off? Is the agreement part of your EBA which can be renegotiated? Can you trade off other conditions now for better access to career progression? As we at eastern can do nothing in terms of progression. Its also interesting to note that Impulse had a seperate agreement to Sunstate and Eastern. We are part of the Regional Progression Agreement whereas Impulse/Jet* does not appear on our agreement even though the amended agreement was signed off well after you guys negotiated your progression numbers.
Something needs to be done about this issue and its only fair to the hard working eastern crew to be given an indication about their future direction one way or another. But as a lot of crew say the company/FAAA/Qantas will never tell us anything because the resignations would be flying in faster than an F1-11.
I do however have faith in the FAAA and their ability. A lot of crew believe they have no interest in this issue and are doing nothing which is not the case. They have nothing to report as yet and all we can do is trust that they will pursue this issue with Qantas. External permanent recruitment is an issue overall with the FAAA I am sure of that and progression is mixed up with all of those discussions so I can see why the process always takes a long time. For now Im putting my faith in the FAAA to represent the member feelings and communicate this to both our management and Qantas and see what outcome can be negotiated.