Whilst I am a supporter of our Assosiation I have to say that the comments made in the "Australian" today (Qantas pilots protest at changes to ownership rules, flight time limits, staffing levels) had me concerned how much the com might be out of touch with the current issues.
RW said;
"If they operated with the minimum crew everywhere, as per the regulations, they would get more than 200 pilots surplus out of that,"
"We would be concerned about minimum crew operations from a fatigue point of view, and we would also be concerned about the future of our young pilots. That would be a significant surplus when we are already in surplus because the airline chose to shrink the fleet."
It is very hard to support these arguments regarding minimum crew as
a) Fatigue is a fact of life in long haul operations
b) We are very well compensated to manage the above.
c) Our competitors operate to the same standard of minimum crew
d) Crew surplus is a poor argument not to support efficiencies such as operating min crew.
Unfortunately past practices are finished, long layovers to work on the tan or to catch up with the girlfriends is over. It is now just all about the bottom line for the company. If we require an extra crew member that is not required due F & D limitations then i'm afraid we don't need them.
With the current situation of senior guys (over 60's) still hanging around and bidding pack to F/O positions on the 380 and 737 commands there really isn't a lot of sympathy being shown to the younger guys from their peers, despite all the rhetoric.
Realistically redundancies will be unavoidable so it would be advantageous of AIPA to negotiate the best deal possible for this inevitable outcome
In regard to the current award, and I do enjoy working under it and the benefits it has provided, its days are numbered. With the segregating of longhaul/shorthaul/Jetstar businesses I think "the black book" will be exposed for what it has unfortunately become, outdated and inefficient compared to what is around today.
The trick is to make sure we don't remain outdated and inefficient as well.