LHRT,
As much as we are painted as 'white collar wharfies' it is not in our nature to harm the industry. We are trying to continue to provide the service to the industry and the travelling public in spite of what management have done. CONTROLLERS DO NOT WANT AN INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE.
Staffing wise the place has been going downhill for the last five plus years, there is no achievable on-going training plan. Wish lists are put out for public consumption. Under TFNs leadership ASA have cut and cut and cut, he is now trying to implement his SDE model, which he forlornly hopes will solve the staffing issues.
If this was an airline, he had 90% of the pilots needed and has been working them like dogs (we don't have CAR48 protection). He stopped recruiting.To save further money he sent a toecutter in and gutted the training area. He decided to create another level of management. To tie them to him these jobs were to be AWA (contract positions) only, payrises were from 30-100%. This took a further 10% of the workforce away. Some of the new 'pilot' managers had less than 2 years experience, others were doing 'projects' out the back due dubious aviation records, of course some were good. Quite a few who won positions were uncomfortable that their safety based decisions would be at odds with a contract and turned them down.
As the staffing crisis deepens TFN Airways decides that he will bring in a requirement for the now 80% of required pilots to hold endorsements on all aircraft types, and that they will be obligated to attend for work whenever rung.
He has decided to start recruiting in a big way, but then realises that the toecutter has been overzealous and that the training department has pretty much ceased to exist. He now finds that a lot of his pilots have had enough and are leaving, he decides to throw all the blame on the pilots. He is now inventing fictitious industrial action and trying to goad the pilots into doing something illegal.
And this is pretty much where TFN airlines is now
Last edited by max1; 26th Oct 2008 at 13:51.