Erin has hit the nail on the head here.
It is going to punch smoking holes through the incumbent governments legislation and the opposition is going to milk it, no questions.
All I can say is the chooks let free a decade ago have come home to roost!
The decadence of employers in Australia, has been growing steadily stronger, it ascended with the fall out from New York and Ansett. It has been nurtured by the political climate and now those same managers have the gaul to say but its not…..us it was them.
Kids are not stupid and neither are a lot of the younger pilots. The pilots kept getting the raw end of the prawn and a lot of them have headed o/s, no progression from qlink, no step up to the big birds without being current with 3 shuttle landings, 10 IR renewals and oh you have to be under 28 any number of reasons.
The kids have seen this and basically said WTF??? Go through hell, to go bush with no planned future, oh and I have to pay for it! No thanks, I can be a garbo, chippie, plumber, lawyer, banker, glassie (maybe not), earn more, be home at night…….
And they wonder why the number of CPLs issued to Australian Citizens as plummeted faster than shares in a sub-prime mortgage lender.
QF &
VB only get the numbers because they are the “Holy Grail” in oz, and shortly they too are going to have trouble. Just look at the Big Q’s expansion of the cadet program.
So chooks, come home and roost, bring it ON.
This has been brewing for a long time, I wish the NJS guys all the very best I hope that you are prepared to stick to your guns, because there are a lot of people watching what will happen, this is truly going to be a test case.
Be sure that the delegates with the help of the union have some professional
PR because your gonna need it! Highlighting the difference between the salaries and training costs of pilots verse your average rig pig or mine rat in the Northwest is not going to cut it. You need to manipulate the media and play public perception as far as you can.
I wish you the very best.
Personally I am not under an EBA, AWA, or any such, I work for an employer that pays for my ratings, training, all my recruitment costs and in return I push their jets all over the world on an equal time rotation that sees me work six months a year.
Regret leaving oz. What do you think.
