If I was a Lufthansa pilot then I would be nothing short of frustrated to see the union that I have financially contributed towards and supported over the years, now offering its assistance towards pilots based in the Middle East, so that their conditions can be improved when my own are at stake. Unions in Europe are finding it increasingly tougher to keep their members happy, which has been manifested in the recent industrial action with Lufthansa.
Vereinigung Cockpit doesn't have our interests as EK pilots at heart and quite rightly so, as a union should look after its own members first and foremost. Should they be willing to listen to our grievances, then it can only be to give them leverage in helping to slow or halt further EK expansion in Germany, which seems to have ground to a halt anyway. Lufthansa don't want us growing in Germany and neither do the Air Berlin/'Airline Down the Road' partnership either. That alone makes a powerful force within Germany.
If Vereinigung Cockpit was willing to listen to us and then used this 'ammunition' to discredit EK by whitewashing the company through the German press and/or by lobbying at a high level to prevent further EK expansion in Germany, then it is 'mission successful' as far as they are concerned. We would achieve next to nothing in the process.
I would love to see change in EK but I am a realist and getting cosy with a union in Germany is not the step we need to be making. Hard times are ahead in Dubai with petrol subsidies gone and sales tax coming. I personally am expecting nothing more than the contractual step to this years pay review in a few months. The public purse is being stretched in Dubai and I suspect any reasonable pay rise for us will be vetoed by the Sheikhs, as it apparently was last year. 2016 shall be interesting!
Emma,
While I would agree with you that Vereinigung Cockpit's motives may be a bit suspect, I would also point out that Emirates has gotten so big and influential in the industry that they are in effect "setting the bar" regarding employment practices, specifically for aircrew. I've often wondered why the world's legacy carriers, while quick to criticize EK for their commercial practices, have been relatively silent about EK's personnel practices (and to a lesser extent the free pass they seem to enjoy from their regulator) when the resulting productivity is surely a competitive advantage. Is it in the hope that they may one day enjoy approval for some of the same things (no leave, flight time factoring and unaccounted duty time to name a few)? I'm just speculating here but perhaps someone at Vereinigung Cockpit has realized that if something isn't done about these kinds of things, that they will soon be facing the prospect of some or all these practices on their properties.