During May, the word was that the company was “very close” to signing off both EBA’s. But Oldmeadow isn’t an idiot; he may have suggested having one last crack.
So after a long and fruitless day of negotiating, where nothing was being conceded by either side, a deal was done in the last few minutes.
One of the oldest negotiating tricks in the book: make a deal with only a few minutes to go after a long and frustrating day. Play on their egos (in this case: “You’ll get your EBA signed off before Eastern”).
And it worked.
The soft underbelly (that was the Sunstate rep(s)) was breached. TEN YEARS work by both pilot councils of trying to get over what happened with the Q400 introduction thrown out the window. All trust between the EAA and SSA pilot groups gone.
Just like that.
And how’s that working out for the Sunstate pilots? Well, according to the 5th of June update, they’re happy with the FINANCIAL side of the EBA.
But should they be?
The Eastern EBA reps did a comprehensive costing of their EBA proposal. They found that under the Eastern EBA proposal the company was basically cost neutral with a slight benefit to the company.
That’s right folks, by wanting:
- $10.00/$6.50 per hour DHA to come in on agreement
- 9 days off per roster
- FO’s getting 55/60% of Q400 Captains pay for years one and two and 65% of “fleet” Captains pay for year three and beyond
The COMPANY would benefit slightly financially. So a pretty good result for both sides. Pilots get extra time off and more money, and basically cost neutral for the company.
Poor old Sunnies pilots. Their EBA reps hadn’t done any costings. So think of how much more money the company is going to make with:
- $9.30/$6.00 per hour DHA to come in on 01 Jan 2016
- 8 1/2 days off per roster
- FO’s getting 55% of “fleet” Captains pay for all first three years.
If you can’t work it out, by delaying the DHA, current Sunstate pilots are giving up 4.5% of your yearly income.
So you should be happy to see the extent of how
YOUR REPS have benefitted the company at
YOUR EXPENSE.
All because they desperately wanted to sign off before Eastern, and because they couldn’t be bothered using a calculator.
Of course, as most people have realized by now, the “In-Principal” agreement wasn’t quite as “in-principal” as it was on the 15th of May, nor even the 25th of May. As seen on the 5th of June update, there are 13 or so items that are “issues” and are all about rostering and day of operations.
But hang on, how are these suddenly issues? Eastern has had an on-going rostering dispute with the company almost since the introduction of Optimiser. We’ve been going it alone. We asked Sunstate if they were going to join us in this dispute with the company but they said no. Why?
Because Sunstate doesn’t have rostering issues, according to the head of the Sunstate pilot council. Not sure if you Sunstate pilots realized that you didn’t have any rostering issues until the 5th of June this year! Or at least you didn’t until the Sunnies EBA reps had this crazy idea and decided to listen to what their pilots were saying to them.
Curiously enough, the 13 items are almost a cut-and-paste of the issues surrounding the Eastern Rostering dispute. (Is this yet another example of Sunnies copying what the Eastern guys are doing?)
At least they’re (finally) on the right track. The 19th of June update has everything rosy again!
Nothing to worry about!
But if the conditions are “all fixed” as you guys say, why didn’t you publish what changes you’ve managed to effect? Surely if they’re that good, you can put them up for public consumption? No?
I’m guessing (and I don’t think I’m going that far out on a limb here, considering the piss-poor performance of your negotiators so far) that the reality of the accepted lifestyle and rostering changes will just be some weasel words in the EBA like “where possible” and “if practicable” and “if the Tea Leaves fall the right way”.
Seriously, with the crew complement in Cairns vs the number of aircraft based there, there has to be some major changes to lifestyle protection. I’m just not seeing it.
Any changes to lifestyle only be cost neutral (i.e. minimal), as your reps have already signed off an “in-principal” agreement!
So I hope you guys trust your pilot council and EBA reps to have done their job properly. I hope your lesser wage increase and zero lifestyle changes are worth it because the damage done by your reps will last for at least the next ten years, and certainly for as long as you keep the same people in your Pilot Council.
I hope you guys feel happy that management can manipulate your reps so easily.
You can guarantee that come next EBA the Eastern EBA team will be strung along for a year. Management will wait until the Sunnies team come to the table and offer them about 80% of what Eastern are asking for and they know they’ll take it.
Management are confident of this because:
1: You keep on voting the same reps in; and
2: These SAME REPS have caved twice now!
I hope you guys are happy that there is NO TRUST AT ALL from any Eastern Pilot about the Sunnies pilot council. It wasn’t so much of an issue ten years ago when crew didn’t mix, but today there is common crewing and crew operating out of other company bases. You’ll be working alongside people who despise the actions of your reps, knowing that their lifestyle has suffered because of their ego.
I’ve had conversations with some Sunstate pilots recently and some of the commentary is concerning:
Some of the reps are saying that they’ve not undercut Eastern pilots at all! Amazing! It’s as if them agreeing to LESS isn’t undercutting! Perhaps I’ll send a dictionary up north.
I’ve also spoken with pilots who tell me that some of the Sunnies guys are looking to join AIPA because they don’t think that the AFAP is acting in the best interests of the pilot group.
Pity that the Sunnies EBA reps didn’t listen to their pilots earlier. Perhaps they wouldn’t have been so quick to come to an agreement if they’d have actually based some of their EBA claims on what their pilots wanted instead of what their egos demanded.
DIVOSH!