http://www.faaadomestic.org.au/news.asp?id=989
1 August 2007
JET12-07
CABIN CREW COMPLEMENT
Jetstar announced in FSO 163/07 on 30 July that CASA has granted the airline approval to commence 4 Cabin Crew Operations on A320 aircraft, effective 6 August 2007.
It is matter of considerable concern to the FAAA that changes as significant as these are being introduced by Jetstar without a single word of consultation with your union – despite Jetstar’s commitment to do so.
Whilst the FSO explains that “Jetstar will initially continue to plan and roster 5 Cabin Crew” on all flights, it also advises that 5 crew operations may be reduced to 4 to meet operational requirements.
In these circumstances Jetstar is no longer guaranteeing that passenger numbers will be automatically reduced to 144 to adjust for the reduction in crew complement. It appears 4 crew operations will now be required to depart with a full passenger complement of 177.
Despite categorical assurances given by Jetstar that it would consult and with the FAAA before introducing any such change it appears Jetstar plans to introduce reduced crew operations without any trials or consideration of how cabin crew will cope with service delivery.
Under the heading Turnaround Management, the FSO proposes that turnaround requirements will be met by performing some existing turnaround duties in flight. Five crew operations currently struggle to meet service delivery on many flights. It is unrealistic to assume that a reduced crew operation will now be able to provide a full service as well as perform additional duties in flight.
At a Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) meeting on 18 July in Melbourne the FAAA raised this issue and requested full consultation and ongoing discussions. The FAAA identified a number of key concerns that needed to be fully resolved before cabin crew could be fairly expected to perform new duties or changed arrangements.
The issues identified by the FAAA are:
• OH&S considerations in relation to cabin safety (procedures for emergency evacuation etc)
• Workload and service delivery
• Industrial issues (relevant rates of pay etc)
• Turnaround requirements
Jetstar gave an unequivocal commitment to the FAAA representatives at the meeting that no change would be introduced until these issues were discussed.
Your Union has requested an urgent meeting with Jetstar to discuss and resolve these important issues.
We want to assure FAAA members that we will do everything within our power to protect your interests, and will now demand that the proposed cabin crew complement changes are delayed to allow proper discussions to occur.
I am sorry you folks are copping this too, at Virgin Blue it was brought in earlier this year on our B738's. Suffice to say service standards have been affected, even though the company has made some concessions - the biggest being that the caterers put our catering away for us now. This unfortunately is of no assistance inflight, particularly for the allocation of crew breaks, which on a 4 sector day with 4 crew will usually mean no one gets a break - and its rare the CS will actually get a chance to eat food properly (inhaling a cheese & biscuits whilst counting the money does not count) - at least the rear based crew get a few minutes of quiet time after securing the cabin before the "double ding". Lets hope the FAAA fights this for you - unfortunately they happily accepted it for us
