I really cant see any prospects of a 'joint' effort industrially with collusion between theQF and Virgin groups. My understanding of this is that it would be illegal as a secondary boycot to give industrial support to employees at another company or even under a different EBA.
(As a side note regarding datal seniority vs meritorious:
both systems are capabile of being corrupted by dysfunctional managment. Seniority does not ensure 'fairness' eg:
- Company A operates 2 types. A pilot who is not liked by managment because he/she has spoken up on safety issues is next in line for a command on the smaller type. He/she is called by a manager and told that his/her command bid is going to be trumped by more datally senior FOs on the larger type and it is suggested that he/she bids for an FO slot on the larger type otherwise they will be stuck on the smaller type as FO "for years". Pilot does this and 2 days into the ground school for the larger type new commands are announced on the smaller type with all positions being awarded to FOs current on the smaller type who are all datally junior to said pilot. No senior FOs on the larger type had bid for commands at all.
- Company B has 2 commands coming up and the Most Senior Guy(MSG) is not in the 'beer and BBQ' mate's list of the Fleet Manager(FM). FM has a really good mate who is 3rd in line. The FM decrees that a new "Command Upgrade Check" is to be used. MSG fails his check when the FM changes the assigned altitude indicator when MSG is doing some thing on the overhead panel-result: altitude bust on a check. This means that BBQ mate gets the command. MSG told "don't worry, you'll get the next one" (which he did).
Is it "fair" when a pilot who has been retrenched and has 15 years airline experience applies for a job and is made the most junior pilot in the company? This pilot's company then promotes an FO who has 2 1/2 years in that company-his first airline job-and just scrapes through his checks? Is it fair that the 15 year pilot then has to hold the hand of the neophte captain whenever the going gets tough? Is it "fair" that experienced pilots must always re-build their careers from 'the bottom of the list' whenever an airline goes broke?
Not to mention that Datal Seniority has the effect of
reducing or T&C's. Pilots cannot vote with their feet and easily get screwed down by the company. How else do you think that industry conditions have become what they are during 10 years of explosive growth and demand for our skills? Our T & Cs should have
boomed if subject to market forces, but Datal Seniority has distorted the demand equasion to our great and profound detriment.
A proper promotions system should select the best, most experienced, qualified and suitable candidate by way of a properly selected promotions commitee that has input from the C & T group and representation from the union, HR and management. Guidelines for promotion established the the pilot body during their EBA ).