Originally Posted by jetsbest
At the risk of interjecting on a LAME thread.... (forgive me)
Your points are all very logical until one faces management who;
- acknowledge that its pilots are some of the most experienced in the world,
- already use 'world's best practice' (ie the most 2nd Officers) for the longhaul flying done,
- acknowledge that, were it not for the skills of the crews involved (eg A330 QF72, 747 QF30 & A380 QF32), QF may have had far worse outcomes,
- will acknowledge that its pilots aren't the most expensive compared to similar airlines,
- agree on numerous efficiencies the pilots have identified,
- make marketing pitches, spoken by movie stars, like "there's no one I'd rather have up front than a Qantas pilot"...
AND YET... despite past-practice in QF, and 'job security' clauses in present Jetconnect, Lufthansa and many other successful & reputable airlines...
- absolutely REFUSE to allay QF pilot & engineer concerns that it intends to set-up even more off-shoring,
- denigrates its own employees in public forums (kamikazes? "what planet are they on?"),
- intentionally & grossly misrepresents facts to media outlets (26%, QF mainline is still recruiting, QF pilots average $350k/year, no QF pilots have been made redundant in 40 years but omitting that plenty took BIG voluntary work/pay cuts specifically to avoid QF-threatened retrenchments etc)
- seem to be doing more brand damage by their negative statements than any employees could, and
- allocates mainline-derived profits to varied other ventures and then infers that mainline is the problem!
Employees are exasperated! There is NO trust in anything management says. There is NO sense of management integrity. Managers have lost the mantle of 'leadership' and are apparently resorting to principles more akin to kindergarten discipline in the absence of any real credibility. It IS NOT working at the coal-face; it's resented ever more with each new attempt to discredit the people with the most to lose; the long-term employees!
Romulus, how would you deal with that climate?
Disclaimer up front - I have bugger all idea about the pilot situation, I have an expired single engine licence that I'd love to renew but hey, things just keep getting in the way and time gets allocated elsewhere.
The thing I absolutely detest about the way this dispute is being handled is the denigration of the people. It's just plain wrong and leads to all sorts of problems, many of which are now manifesting.
At the risk of taking a slight detour look at Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool. He took over Benitez's squad and immediately stopped carping about buying better players, he worked with his team, trusted in them and hings changed very quickly. Self confidence is a funny thing and can be very resilient, even when battered it will bounce back pretty quickly provided the conditions are genuinely provided.
I also detest the use of lies. If it IS 26% and $350K then release the genuine figures to show it (not to an individual level of course but if you have a pilot wages bill of $350,000,000 and 1000 pilots then say so) and go from there.
The best way for that to be handled is for QF management to change it, be under no misconceptions that is my belief.
Equally from your perspective you need to overcome a massive hurdle - pilots are overpaid pretty boys who shag hosties in glamourous locations. A usual case of the minority casuign problems for the majority, especially when it is fed into the mainstream via Hollywood etc.
First step for pilots, in my opinion, would be the
PR. "Hi, I'm Barry and I'm a Qantas captain" is far more likely to resonate and engage than "I'm Captain Barry Smith". We're Australian after all. And from there focus on teh facts. You pay $X thousand out of your own pocket to get trained, you build Y hours in dusty parts of the world just to build hours etc etc etc before you can even get close to a QF job. And then you start on whatever the entry pay scale is.
Clean, simple facts. That anybody who knows knows support your case.
With regard to your management I don't really know enough to comment, I've heard enough poison dripping when I've been in airports to know something is amiss, I'd go back to my basic principle of demonstrating value - how do you minimise fuel burn, late departures etc etc that goes beyond teh call of second tier pilots.
The safety card is *NOT* a winner because that is *EXPECTED*.
I have no real idea what makes for super efficient pilot opeations, but figure that out and you figure out where you need to get management's attention.