Oz Airlines & Maternity Leave.

[novicef]

I am planning to start a family in about 4 years time, which will make me 29. However my husband is insisting that I only work part time once the baby is born and to do so until he/she goes to school.

Is it possible to get part time work in QANTAS, J* or Virgin as a FO?

I see one of the FO's in BA was able to get maternity leave & then part time work with BA.

Would this also apply here? I really would like to spend some time with my child during the first few years.

[300ER]

novicef, you will find that the only reason she won was because BALPA supported her case through the courts. However you will find BA is appealing.

In any case it has opened up a can of worms for employing young women as pilots. Why should an employer spend money on training a pilot and through simulator sessions maintain her profficiency, only to find she takes time off to have a family after which she only works part-time.

This industry is quite different to others as one must maintain handling and non-normal profficiency by recency and simulators. Simulator costs are high.
All being considered why should an airline employ a woman of child bearing age when they can employ a male without those problems occuring.

[Hugh Jarse]

Novicef,

I would suggest you do a little research apart from here. You can start by searching for the relevant EBA's. You should be able to find that on one of the govenment websites. Can't remember which.:8

Any part-time conditions will be laid out in their respective EBA's. First you have to get a job with them:hmm:

My company makes provision for part-timers, and we have one lady Captain doing exactly as you describe. 300ER writes about proficiency, etc. I don't have my EBA in front of me, but from memory there is provision for a couple of extra Cyclics per year, among other things for our part-timers.

Good luck. Get that keyboard a-tapping.:E

[mach.865]

novicef:

I recently met a young woman who was about to have an interview with a major airline. For some reason or other we touched on this very subject, she was quite adamant she would start a family only when she was in an airline.

This lady was in her mid-twentys, Grade1 instructor with a MECIR. With her profile she would prob make the airlines. Now if she goes ahead with this plan, its going to make it harder for people like you to make it.

[Capt Claret]

novicef

I suspect "part-time" work as tech crew with a large would be nigh on impossible. However, job-sharing might be the way to go.

I believe that VB has a husband/wife team. Both hold commands and share the one job/income.

I am aware of other jet operators who will consider job sharing. If considered favourably, it's my guess that you'd have to be able to be in the same city as your co-pilot, and would have to agree to the ratio of flying, then have the company agree to the concept.

It'd be ground breaking but I know two F/Os in the organisation I work for who would be happy to job share. Sadly for them they're in different cities.

[Lord Snot]

What would truly be ground-breaking is if the woman decided to stay at home, cook, look after the kids (you know, like our parents did...:rolleyes: ) and leave the job for someone who will pay back what the employer puts in...

Oh wait, VB makes you pay for your own training don't they??? That's the deal their pilot group sold out for??

In that case, VB deserve what they get.

Any other work field, she'd be knocked back if she let the prospective employer get a sniff of the true attitude: "I'll work for a few years then make them pay for me to have a baby."

If it's not true, then why isn't it a frank admission at the interview?

[Howard Hughes]

I thought airline pilots only worked part time anyway!!;)

[MIss Behaviour]

Lord Snot

Christ I'm glad I live in Oz and don't have to put up with all that dark ages bull sh!t that you so obviously revel in.

How does a company measure the return on investment (ie training its pilots) from employees anyway? I would put money on the fact a female pilot who had offspring would be more loyal to an employer that had flexible conditions to suit parents (irrespective of whether they are male or female) than someone such as yourself who would probably jump ship at a moments notice.

Ask any employer who has family friendly policies eg Westpac Bank in Oz, but be prepared to not like what you hear.

What would truly be ground-breaking is if the woman decided to stay at home, cook, look after the kids (you know, like our parents did... ) and leave the job for someone who will pay back what the employer puts in...


Give me a f***ing break. Not everyone who has kids wants to stay home forever with them. Bet you wouldn't, so why should mothers have to? I don't believe that being a parent makes you less able to contribute in any way to an employer, sometimes more so.

Howard Hughes
I agree with you. You can always get a nanny to fill in the gaps.

Novicef
Make sure both you and your other half are happy with any future employment arrangements before you go forth and multiply! :ok:

[cap71n]

However my husband is insisting that I only work part time once the baby is born and to do so until he/she goes to school.

This is the sentence that is giving me the most trouble...
What do YOU want to do??

[boeingwest]

All these comments... and I have come to discover why this industry is so male dominated, its too hard to have babies. Just adopt a 5 year old and send em' off too school. Problem solvered as they say! :ok:

[Keg]

If you're the primary care giver than QF will allow you to fly a 'carers line' which means that you'll get priority pick on the trips that you do. I think it is essentially a 'half roster' but not 100% sure. I do know that a few of our girls have done it and quite successfully.

The above applies to Long haul- not so sure about short haul. The other point to note is that even a half line as a S/O on the B744 will have you doing trips that range in length from three to five days. As an F/O on the 767 or A330 at least you have two and three day domestos trips!

Good luck.

[Lord Snot]

a female pilot who had offspring would be more loyal to an employer that had flexible conditions to suit parents than....HAHAHAHAAAA.....!!

Yeah right, hanging around for the better deal is a perfect measure of loyalty. Give me a frigging break... :rolleyes:

It's all a part of the wonderful, greater PC world we now inhabit.

What makes more sense, hire with no plans of ever having children or some young chick who thinks she wants to be a pilot but also has every intention to squeeze out a few sh!t-machines in a year or two and make the company pay for it???

Of course no employer can say "No." And some people have progressed so far in "shamelessness" (-hahaha!) they even announce their intentions on pprune to get the best angle on how to play it.

Disgraceful.

Commit to a job or a family, one or the other. Or work from home. Gve your kids a chance.

As for the rest of you, I really would like to spend some time with my child during the first few years.Come on guys, this is a very obvious p!ss-take and you're all biting.

Shame as I like to see a good stoush here but everyone thinks it's a serious thread.

[zepthiir]

All being considered why should an airline employ a woman of child bearing age when they can employ a male without those problems occuring.

Well considering that men are now meant to get the same paternity leave allowances as women get for maternity leave what is to stop a man from leaving for paternity and asking to come back part time?

Or maybe company's now should only hire single people and gay people so they don't need to stress about the whole thing.

I doubt it'll happen but I actually heard about something in the pipeline that there was a push to make it mandatory for an employer to allow an employee to come back to work part time after maternity leave. And with the lack of childcare spaces and high workload of bringing up a newborn I think this can only be a good thing.

Sure its not as easy for a company to work around, but there are ways to make it work. And to be honest it should be easier for a big company like Qantas/Jetstar or Virgin to deal with because if they start being more flexible with the process there is a good chance they will be able to find more than one pilot wanting to work part time and job sharing then becomes a viable option.

Zepth

[Baron Captain ?]

This question is exactly why I hate Chicks in Aviation!
They take up a slot in a good airline that some Bloke would love to have and then they bugger off and have kids, which in turn stuffs everyone around!

My Advice.... Stay out of Aviation and get a new career!!!!


If Chicks were meant to fly planes the bloody sky would be PINK...YES PINK.. Not BLUE!!!!..

"Another empty Kitchen" is always said when I hear a Chick voice on the radio!!

[Woomera]

And here endeth the story:suspect:

**Click**