Hoolio
5th Oct 2006, 06:17
Ok guys, ST's unilateral imposition of this extension, coupled with his monumental efforts to sell this RP07 proposal to us, despite its obvious faults, can be dealt with later. At the next election of GC members.
What is vitally important now is that we stop focusing on all these small points and begin to pull in the SAME direction.
Inevitably, due to ST's actions, there WILL be a re-vote on RP07. I don't like it, but we need to face that reality.
What we must do as a group is come up with what we
want in the new RP07 to make it acceptable. If as a group we can come to a consensus as to what MUST be in place before we will vote for RP07, we have a much better chance of preventing RP07 being passed with a minor massaging of terms and no real improvement.
I would like to see the following fixed,
-Credit free reserve. This is simply not acceptable. We have a credit pay system and reserve must be paid. The argument that " you almost always get called out so you dont give much away is laughable. The same argument cuts against not paying for reserve. If they are going to call me out, then they should have no issue paying me at least 1/4 credit to be available.
-free reserve when duty is changed. Not acceptable. Extra reserve should be credited as MORE than normal reserve. perhaps 50%? There must be something to make them seriously look at needs for reserve before they drop it on your line automatically. Here is shown, beyond any question, that soft language has no place in a contract. "We will try not to give you reserve if a duty is changed".....has ANYBODY had a duty change and NOT gotten reserve? Not me.
-Work stacking. We need a better system because this is rediculous. 84hrs/month devided by 31 = 2.71, or 2.8 in a 30 day month. You can see the extent of the value of soft language in the RP04 document here. It has NO value. We have all seen that despite the statement that they won't stack, they obviously do.
-Soft wording like 3days off between same direction ULR trips. It has been repeatedly shown that this, and any other, try to, should do, etc... will never be implemented. There need to be sollid, wording as to what can and can not be done. There also need to be monetary penalties in place, IN THE CONTRACT for when the company needs to crew a plane. ie., if you need to drop an extra reserve on my line, then you can do it, but it costs more. The only thing that will keep them in line is financial penalty.
-I want to see some protection for our regional flying pilots. maybe a maximum number of duty hours in a given week or 3 week period. Night hours count 1.5? We need to make things more reasonable for the 777 pilots. Every major airline has rules in there rostering to prevent against fatigue AND to preserve the work vs pay balance.
Lets try and see things as a group and not as a bunch of tiny special interest groups. If sometinh is ok for me, but crap for somebody else, I wont vote for it. Neither should you.
Lets get a good list going and some healthy discussion so we can clearly define the exact issues, not only for ourselves, but for the AOA and the company.
This is how we build a union that is not a laughing stock. This is how we actually get 90%+ membership.
This is how we actually accomplish the protection of our CofS.
This is how we get our overdue, and often promised, pay rise.
Hoolio
What is vitally important now is that we stop focusing on all these small points and begin to pull in the SAME direction.
Inevitably, due to ST's actions, there WILL be a re-vote on RP07. I don't like it, but we need to face that reality.
What we must do as a group is come up with what we
want in the new RP07 to make it acceptable. If as a group we can come to a consensus as to what MUST be in place before we will vote for RP07, we have a much better chance of preventing RP07 being passed with a minor massaging of terms and no real improvement.
I would like to see the following fixed,
-Credit free reserve. This is simply not acceptable. We have a credit pay system and reserve must be paid. The argument that " you almost always get called out so you dont give much away is laughable. The same argument cuts against not paying for reserve. If they are going to call me out, then they should have no issue paying me at least 1/4 credit to be available.
-free reserve when duty is changed. Not acceptable. Extra reserve should be credited as MORE than normal reserve. perhaps 50%? There must be something to make them seriously look at needs for reserve before they drop it on your line automatically. Here is shown, beyond any question, that soft language has no place in a contract. "We will try not to give you reserve if a duty is changed".....has ANYBODY had a duty change and NOT gotten reserve? Not me.
-Work stacking. We need a better system because this is rediculous. 84hrs/month devided by 31 = 2.71, or 2.8 in a 30 day month. You can see the extent of the value of soft language in the RP04 document here. It has NO value. We have all seen that despite the statement that they won't stack, they obviously do.
-Soft wording like 3days off between same direction ULR trips. It has been repeatedly shown that this, and any other, try to, should do, etc... will never be implemented. There need to be sollid, wording as to what can and can not be done. There also need to be monetary penalties in place, IN THE CONTRACT for when the company needs to crew a plane. ie., if you need to drop an extra reserve on my line, then you can do it, but it costs more. The only thing that will keep them in line is financial penalty.
-I want to see some protection for our regional flying pilots. maybe a maximum number of duty hours in a given week or 3 week period. Night hours count 1.5? We need to make things more reasonable for the 777 pilots. Every major airline has rules in there rostering to prevent against fatigue AND to preserve the work vs pay balance.
Lets try and see things as a group and not as a bunch of tiny special interest groups. If sometinh is ok for me, but crap for somebody else, I wont vote for it. Neither should you.
Lets get a good list going and some healthy discussion so we can clearly define the exact issues, not only for ourselves, but for the AOA and the company.
This is how we build a union that is not a laughing stock. This is how we actually get 90%+ membership.
This is how we actually accomplish the protection of our CofS.
This is how we get our overdue, and often promised, pay rise.
Hoolio