Mr Packer..
There are some needling elements of truth in what you say, but in defence of the 'good blokes' out there in QF (many of whom btw have voted NO to the deals to which you refer, and for the same reasons being advocated for J* too);
- more that half of all QF mainline pilots joined since 1995, not to mention the even larger proprtion of QF-group pilots,
- AIPA has been repeatedly told it does not control the recruiting process and resultant seniority,
- most are NOT happy with the apparent nepotism evident at times,
- the short-sighted B-scale vote by the sub-set known as A-pilots also affected the subsequent command pay of the F/O voters themselves, but has since been paid for
again in removing its inequity,
- Ignoring J* pilots was not the agenda of many (maybe even most) QF pilots, but it has served people of influence at various junctures to sell the line that it 'just had to be this way' (promotion? bonuses? promises?). I wanted J* pilots who met the mystical QF-group standard to be employed from the hold file on QF pay... not told 'no job here but how about J*'. I believe significant 'poaching' of candidates eminently suitable for ANY company has cost those individuals a start date in QF through the expediency of convenient divide (now being followed by conquer?); an obvious remuneration cost to those individuals but hard to quantify or prove.
- I thought the job-swap MOU was close-run rather than overwhelming, especially when considering it had no
obvious relevance to Captains at the time, who mostly seemed to vote along 'party lines'. The initial spin sounded good (sound familiar?) and as a trusting soul I voted. When the more sinister aspects emerged I was unable to reverse my online vote. I'm not the only one. I felt duped and I'm now much less trusting of the non-specific language used in documents like MOUs and the J* EBA Revision document. Having said that, the MOU is still a 2-way street; why have apparently no J* pilots tried it?
- Re 'never voting no'... Well you get that with such diverse self-interest as exists in QF. J* must be different. Spin and threats from management (sound familiar?), clouded or ambiguous motives by some in power (sound familiar?), differences in time-to-go, and apathy from some who's careers are most affected by the vote are all in the mix. I accept it's but one of many faults in the AIPA group, but the J* pilots are doing it too. Many rebuffs are as childish as the accusations but I maintain that it might help to
listen to what has transpired in recent AIPA history and
learn from the literal contractual pitfalls of this industrial relations climate.
- Finally, as far as I can tell there are 117 F/Os and 133 Captains on A330 in QF TODAY. There are a few more in training but, as I've told my kids a million times, don't exaggerate! And as for common knowledge about pay cuts and promotion; just saying it doesn't make it so! An annoying part is that pilot managers claim they didn't know of the J* A330 extraction until the day before the announcement so, on the face of it, a secretive commercial decision has apparently forced the imminent over-manning of the QF A330 fleet. You can bet the QF pilots will be conveniently blamed for that cost. Plus management wouldn't be deliberately deceptive would they?
In review I realise there are a lot of circular arguments going on in this thread. What jumps out at me is the striking resemblance the comments made by the J*-biased demographic bear to those by the QF-biased demographic! Neither side wants to be told by, or learn from, the other.
Perhaps the recruiters and psychologists do have it consistently right for pilots' temperament and disposition; deep down we're all the same!?!
