Originally Posted by Adam Ant
Anyone else being hit with massive hours lately???
I am finding at the moment, in general, I am getting long days with relatively short rest periods... I dont mind working long days or working up to what we are able to be rostered (140 or 135 hours), however I do object to it when there is insufficient time to use a rest period for Rest. Rest does not mean bus to hotel, check in, strip off uniform, iron next uniform, eat Tony Ferguson shake for dinner, do tomorrows paperwork, climb into bed, sleep 7 hours (if you are lucky), get up, get ready, eat Tony Ferguson shake for breakfast, get bus back to airport - just to do another 9 hour day with short rest all over again!
Rest is also about winding down and relaxation - "de-working" for a bit. This is something I have bought up in the past, and will bring up again. I know some crew want to be home as often as possible, and thats great. However for those of us who actually enjoy the travel, I think crew would look forward to going to work more if they had time to spend in the cities we fly to - outside the hotel! ESPECIALLY in Melbourne - 15 hours from midnight till 3pm the next day at the airport hotel is mind-numbingly painful. I personally believe little things like this (giving crew enough time to get out there and see the places we fly to - doesnt have to be 5 days or anything, but sufficient rest - even with long days thats fine - just give us time to get out and about as well!) will really increase crew morale and engagement. I understand there is talk of increasing Min rest in the next EBA to 11 or 12 hours, but 12 hours really is still not enough to see or do anything other than the hotel really!
I love my job, really I really do, and want to continue to do so! Sure there may be a bit of a cost increase in transport to and from MEL city hotel instead of us walking to the airport hotel, but especially on the midnight arrivals into Melbourne this would greatly reduce sickness on those trips I think - so the costs would balance out. Same goes for the bus system in SYD - spending sometimes up to an hour of your rest period sitting in airports waiting (half hour at sign off, half hour at sign on) because of the bus schedules is not particularly pleasant.
I am going to Pro-actively bring these points up in the forums - I want to present solutions rather than problems - its these little things that make such a difference to crew, and I believe that people who don't fly and dont live the lifestyle we live cant really understand that (not through lack of trying - moreso through lack of living their lives out of a suitcase!). With the
massive cost savings achieved through the 4 crew on the -800, combined with other cost savings that will subsequently be achieved if the new work rules come in, I believe there is scope for a little bit of change in our favour too
Oh and just to clarify, its important that people understand that this is
*NOT* a whinge/bitch - moreso a suggestion on ways to, as D.R. says in his email sign off,
“Creating an environment where people want to fly and enjoy it”
- because everyone used to
love working for
VB - now I am finding each subsequent VA Exchange group that comes back from the UK is commenting on the noticeably decreasing levels of job satisfaction amongst crew.
Thankyou