Face the facts, this company needs to remain profitable to be successful as a business, when it was you all were paid bonuses or did you forget.
no, i didn't forget. It was one profit-share bonus, correct? How long has this company been in business? 9 years you say? so one profit-share bonus, wonderful. How many bonuses have been paid to the heads of the company over the past 9 years? I dare say more than one. Before you argue that their good work got us into/kept us in the black, let me assure you, so did my good work.
We have started an international airline that will be more profitable with 7 B777's than Virgin Blue would be operating with 55 aircraft.
We did not start an international airline, they did. And unless you have a crystal ball that is giving you the answers, how do you know it will be more profitable than virginblue? International airfares may be the cheapest they have ever been, and the aus$ may be great at the moment - thus making an overseas trip more viable for some BUT, unless you have a spare couple of grand up your sleeve for an overseas trip (airfares only and not including children), when times get tough, for most australians, internal holidays become the holiday of choice. That's one of the reasons
VB made a profit of $30million in the last financial year, depsite the GFC!
To remain competitive it costs money for innovations to stay ahead of our competitors
Pray tell VBpilot, the innovations you speak of that are costing us money and keeping us ahead of the game? Has the virginblue group recently come up with a cost saving venture the other airlines across the world haven't? I don't get your point here?
VB is the king of copying - southwest, jetblue, etc. Please elaborate, educate me.
I agree with you that this may be the best EBA we can hope to get, but that doesn't mean that it is the right one. As you have clearly stated, the people that bargain on the company's side (at least), have no clue about what we (and i include tech crew in that 'we') really do on a daily basis - or better put, what we contend with, on a daily basis.
And, if you are going to make the assumption that we are all a bunch of non-tertiary educated employees',
If you want to be paid like a doctor than go get an OP 1 or 2 and a study a degree or better yet get a trade you will then have your monday to friday 8-5 and be getting paid x2 times what you get at virgin!!! unfortunatly you will have to suck it up or move on
you can go jump! I don't mind pilots "dipping into" our forum and putting forth their opinions - the more sides to see an issue from the better - BUT, to cast an aspersion on our ability/education and suggest we go out and get a real qualification that you assume we don't have is simply ignorant on your behalf. There are plenty of people out there in the world (hey, even in virginblue!) that earn as much as you if not more, that don't have a tertiary education - so who is the fool? I can only hope you do what you do because you love to fly - just like me.
and FYI, the amount it cost you to become a commercial airline pilot and and the amount it costs one to go to uni - for most degrees - is about the same. Ever heard of HECS? The only difference between HECS and your costs to become a pilot is the fact that you had to pay yours prior, rather than after, getting the qualification. Maybe if you spoke to most crew, you would discover they have a degree. It may not be a degree that relates to the job they are currently doing, but it no doubt adds to their presence in the cabin and therefore why shouldn't they question their pay and conditions? And even if they haven't studied at a tertiary level, they work hard in a challenging job. You tech crew bitch about how hard your job is all the time and you are on 4 times as much as we are. The difference is, we don't undermine your grievences, we agree with them. Maybe you should walk a cabin or two in our shoes one day before you tell us to "suck it up or move on".
