Let’s start over again….
I don’t think it would take a neurosurgeon to tell us that the company does not really want full time cabin crew anymore. The only way for the company to achieve that is to either give us all a redundancy package or just annoy us enough that we will want to leave anyway.
To achieve the last part they have…
1:Given traditional L/H flying to S/H
2:Set up overseas bases and employed crew on sub Australian conditions.
This creates resentment on board because different crew are being paid different wages although they are doing the same job.
3
mployed casual crew ( MAM ) allowed through the new IR laws.
4: Created AO in Cairns..Which did not really work cost wise as they had hoped so they then…….
5: Created J* and J* international and others such as Jetconnect.
PS. I am not going to argue the chronological creation of these other airlines.
We all know that for some reason people are falling over themselves to apply for MAM, J* and J* international.
This has created the situation where although L/H still have 744’s to work on there is no career progression and as our EBA expires this year puts us in a position where inevitably the company will want more than just a pound of flesh so to speak.
So what can we do about it and by that I mean L/H as S/H are looking after themselves and I cannot really see us joining together. You only had to read the previous Qantas thread to see the resentment to understand this.
The only way forward and to protect our jobs is to do as the wolfster suggested. Let’s give the company something that appeals to their greed and something that they cannot or will not want to forego.
I also believe that these ideas should be tied to a new EBA and the condition that our traditional flying returns to us .Let S/H do S/H flying as it says on the domestic terminal and let L/H do international flying as we used to.
Here are some ideas..
We let any new crew flying L/H be employed similarly as MAM’s or J* international crew are. This effectively creates a Band A and a Band B. This is nothing more than what is already happening with the AKL, BKK and LHR base except that they will be employed in Australia and based in Australia. This does not mean that the bases in those ports will close but that we are closing off the threat in some way to other cheap sources of crew.
If we don’t then we will lose more flying to S/H and J* international. This is not intended to be antagonistic to S/H but the facts are undeniable that we have lost traditional flying to S/H.
The company may very well be planning to have dedicated fleets such as 744 and the 380 and so on but if we offer a cost inducement to the company we might be able to get our flying back.
We can also look at other sources of revenue for the company that will not impact dramatically on us. For example changing the overtime calculation from 12 hours to 12.5 hours. After the tax is taken out there will be little difference in our net pay but to the company it would be a huge savings.
We could also suggest changes to the way we get our allowances in slip ports. We could use the debit card so that the company does not have to pay the hotel to count and insert allowances into envelopes. This may sound like a small idea but it may add up to $10.00 per crew at each hotel and each day of the week.
These are only a few ideas of mine and I understand the idea of giving in on some of our conditions will be hard to swallow but if we pick ones that will have little impact on our lives and as I said will appeal to the greed that pervades the office and their bonus mentality then we will be able to keep our jobs. This job is not only about the destinations and the money but our enjoyment in the job. If there is no more fun then it is a very short-term prospect.
There are some that post here that have no interest in crew so don’t let them drag this subject down so that tightslot bans the thread or that it degenerates into another bunfight. Lets come up with ideas to keep our jobs and get back our traditional flying.