Steve,
Yes, I would like to know, on behalf of all junior officers who make up the majority of CX aircrew,
as well as the majority of the AOA membership, why you are not representing their best interests.
I am getting the feeling that the AOA GC is being held hostage by senior A-Scale VPs who refuse to see the impact that CoS 08 will have on the careers of our junior colleagues, and who consider their own circumstances above those they have been elected to represent.
Any attempt to have the plight of junior officers heard is simply labelled 'A-Scale bashing'. I believe that by contrast, the treatment the AOA is dealing out to our junior guys is nothing short of 'junior officer bashing'.
There has been no acknowledgement by the AOA that for junior officers, CoS 08 will mean:
- longer time to command in the event of an industry slowdown - and we work in a cyclical industry. You cannot guarantee 10 more years of unbridled growth, so you must plan for contingencies to deal with a possible slowdown. There are win-win proposals that the AOA has not considered;
- less chances of a base vacancy upon attaining command with more senior guys remaining on bases;
- lesser conditions for New Joiners. When B-Scales were introduced it was only a year later before A-Scalers found, (as a result of COSAP 94 - remember?), that the Company reneged on its promise to leave A-Scalers alone and implemented many of the B-Scale CoS on them also. If we blindly accept lesser conditions for our New Joiner colleagues, it'll be us next. Learn from history.
The silence from the AOA is deafening - especially for junior officers. I can understand completely why a junior officer would not be compelled to join an organisation that patently fails to represent them, and worse, contains some representatives that promote what the Company has basically dictated to them as an agreement worthy of consent.
Some junior officers are already leaving the Company to return to previous jobs, go elsewhere, or even to start up their own businesses. They clearly see their interests as being better served elsewhere. Might I remind those in the AOA GC that one of the principal aims of the association is:
To protect and further the interests of the Aircrew Profession and to safeguard and improve the interests and rights of Members of the Association. Agreeing to CoS 08 is clearly to fail in this aim for junior officers who make up the majority of the membership.
Ideally we should be directing our efforts toward the Company in trying to obtain a better agreement, and making it clear, in no uncertain terms, that CoS 08 is not acceptable to the majority of the AOA membership.
No communication has been forthcoming from the AOA to explain their position publicly. The silence can only be interpreted as collusion with the Company in promoting this flawed agreement.
So, Steve, you are familiar with the way the negotiations went and the issues involved - tell the membership where the upside is in this agreement. I'll be happy to provide a point-by-point rebuttal.
But don't drag your heels - there remains only two months before CoS 08 is implemented.