This is the industrial circumstances as I see them at the moment.
DJ have just voted down their EBA. Back to the negotiating table.
QF Shorthaul have not even bothered to put their offer to a vote given that a pre-vote poll suggested it was going down in a big way. Back to the negotiating table.
Australian Wet lease have also done the same thing as QF short haul. Back to the the negotiating table for them as well.
QF long haul are now in an enterprise bargaining period. Sentiment is delicately poised but if the offers to QF s/h and AOWL are anything to go by then this one won't get any further.
NOW is the time for crew to be singing from the same philosophical song sheet. The question is how. Given that most things like this happen best from the 'grass roots' movements it was suggested on Qrewroom by a few line pilots that opening Qrewroom to DJ crew would be a good way of fostering that unity and gaining some transparency into the issues that are faced by the respective pilot groups. We already have some great contributions from those from Eastern, Sunnies, etc. The Qrewroom administrator stated this:
I would invite the Virgin pilots to join Qrewroom, just like the Eastern, Sunstate, Jetstar and Jetconnect guys, if I had some means of verifying their identity.
There is still a bit of water to flow under the bridge on this one to enable it to happen but it's a positive start of the sort of grass roots connections that Aussie crew
should have.
Therefore I'd be interested to hear from DJ crew who are interested in whether this offer would be received favourably and possible ways that it could be progressed. My rep on PPRUNE is pretty well known and I'll treat any contact with the strictest confidentiality as per the directions of the respective person. I'm on a trip so if a DJ crew wanted to kick it over with me they'd have to skype me. Details via PM.
I'm not intending for this thread to re-hash what AIPA/AFAP/whoever have done in the past that wasn't good for the industry (AIPA leaving AFAP, '89, etc). We learn from those issues but blaming some 1.5-2.5 decades down the track doesn't serve much purpose. What I would like to see is the various pilots in this industry
working together to reduce the spin of the various managements and reducing the times of being played off against each other due to lack of interaction.
It's time.
