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struggling
13th Mar 2009, 03:15
Tried to post a reply on the Qantas pilots' chat room to the Qrewroom post below, but the thread has been locked. :=


Good night and Good Luck!

Posted without comment; Received by COM this morning.

Dear AIPA Committee Member,

RE: Good night and good luck

As I look back on my 10 years on the AIPA COM and where the organisation has come from and where it now finds itself, I can only conclude that the more some things change, the more they stay the same.

The spreading of false and/or misleading information is rampant within AIPA. Yes! I am aware that ‘Chinese Whisperers’ assert that not only was I going to make a ‘motza’ from Pilot Specific Super, but I have also received ‘kick backs’ from my employee share ownership endeavours. Both these assertions have no basis in fact and are absolutely false.

Suffice to say; had AIPA established as I intended, AIPA Financial Services, many more AIPA members could have benefited from my view that early 2008 was a good time to go to cash. Similarly, had certain people not run off to the ACTU and Qantas, the membership could now have the opportunity to buy into Qantas at rock bottom prices using salary sacrifice dollars.

The decision by the Executive to make the AIPA GM redundant on Thursday March 5 and not inform the COM at last Tuesday’s committee meeting should be ringing alarm bells. Add to this, apparent acceptance that it is: (1) OK not to support Ian Woods’ initiatives to protect pilots’ jobs and (2) OK for AIPA to get itself into a situation where it seemingly believes it is no longer necessary to wield meaningful political and commercial influence – and it should be clear that AIPA looks like it is being politically managed with scant regard for advancing the future interests of its members.

Given the above and the Executive’s apparent failure to understand, let alone acknowledge that:
• Should promotional opportunity for Mainliners to move from Qantas to Qantas Jetstar and back again not eventuate - mainline promotion will take a heavy hit in the years ahead,
• The demise of LHEBA Version 1 - means ‘whole of life real income ‘for Mainliners not yet captains, will be much less than it otherwise would have been,, and
• It is likely that Qantas will demand more flexibility from its pilots than what LHEBA 8 Version 1 offered.

I have concluded that I can do more to further the interests of Qantas and its pilots by standing down from this AIPA committee of management.
Good night and good luck

Ian Woods



:hmm: It is the end of an era.

funbags
13th Mar 2009, 03:30
This letter should not be posted on pprune.

Mods, please remove it.

WoodenEye
13th Mar 2009, 04:04
Struggling's post above referres to myself - Ian Woods.

As my letter to the AIPA COM is not legally priviliged and/or confidential in any way and given that it is posted on Qroom, I confirm that I have no objection to Struggling's posting it here.

Kind Regards to All.

funbags
13th Mar 2009, 04:22
No problems then WoodEye, as long as you're happy with it!!

By the way you're a very old looking 27 year old (no offence! :E)

Tidbinbilla
13th Mar 2009, 04:25
The thread stays as per post 3.

By the way you're a very old looking 27 year old (no offence! http://static.pprune.org/images/smilies/evil.gif)
10 years on the COM would do that to you.:8

Bazzamundi
13th Mar 2009, 04:44
Thanks for all you have done Woodeye. Even if people disagree with the way you did things, the least they can show is some respect for a gentleman who put in tireless amounts of work in the belief you can benefit the pilot group. Anyone who gives up their own time with the right intentions has credibility in my book - and you have put in massive amounts of time.

Respect isn't something that comes with 4 bars. It is something you have to earn.

RAD_ALT_ALIVE
13th Mar 2009, 05:08
Woodeye (or anyone who can in fact answer on his behalf),

Can you answer me this one question that has been nagging me (and irritating about 550 others) for a while;

Why have you always persisted in referring to Jetstar as 'Qantas Jetstar'? As far as I know, it's registered as Jetstar Airways Ltd, and trades as Jetstar.

At a time when AIPA wanted/needed/hoped to win the hearts and minds of all pilots within the group, that very small quirk on your part (and let's face it, being on your part, and having printed it as such in the AIPA correspondence that went out to JQ AIPA members ((and of course all other AIPA members)), effectively meant that it was seen as AIPA policy to call it thus) added a very great deal to the suspicion in JQ pilots' minds regarding the veracity of the goodwill gestures emanating out of AIPA HQ.

So I thought I may as well ask it here (for no other reason than seeing you've stepped down has jogged my memory).

In any case, whether one likes the policy of any incumbent COM or not, there's no denying that those on it in general, and the leadership in particular, sacrifice a very great deal of their personal time to achieve what they believe is for the greater good of the group. And so, Ian, I thank you for your efforts. Let's hope that the drive to unify 'Group' pilots cranks up a gear or two so that all may benefit.

So long and good luck.:ok:

Autobrakes4
13th Mar 2009, 05:20
Thanks for all your hard work over the last 10 years Ian, but it was definitely time for you to move on. EBA 8 was not a good result. It was a shocker.

newsensation
13th Mar 2009, 05:32
Respect from a person who is suing other members of the COM :ugh:

teresa green
13th Mar 2009, 05:37
Your right Ian, if you had written that in 1980, it would not look any different to 2008, nothing changes, hope you enjoy your break.

neville_nobody
13th Mar 2009, 06:02
Qantas Jetstar'? As far as I know, it's registered as Jetstar Airways Ltd, and trades as Jetstar

Because that's what Jetstar do. Whenever they are

1. In the poo with CASA
2. Have some safety problem
3. Screw up monumentally
4. Need to improve their image to the travelling public

they wheel out the old "Jetstar a QANTAS group company"

Everytime.:mad:

Don Diego
13th Mar 2009, 06:54
Has old mate or any of his chums over there in the war office ever referred to EAA or SSA as Qantas Eastern or Qantas Sunstate or is that honour reserved for Jetstar???DD.

Bazzamundi
13th Mar 2009, 09:00
Eastern and Sunstate fly the red Qantas tail, and most punters associate flying with them as flying with QF anyhow. With regards to 'old mate', he has done more to try and bring QF group pilots together than anyone else in aviation so far.

Still a way to go, but someone hard to tackle the difficult task of starting to steer the rudderless ship that was QF group unity under previous administrations.

Hugh Jarse
13th Mar 2009, 09:40
Shark, no, because they were never a threat to Mainline flying.

Obie
13th Mar 2009, 09:48
Does anyone really care about you lot, other than you lot?

I really don't think so! :ok:

sthaussiepilot
13th Mar 2009, 09:56
:rolleyes:

What The
13th Mar 2009, 12:01
Frees up AIPA's time to look after pilots now rather than be distracted by the rantings of a self adulating non performer IMHO.

ElPerro
13th Mar 2009, 17:46
for industrial purposes,Qantas introduced a parasite with real potential to eat away at the parent airline...”


In my opinion no man other than Ian Woods, as an Airline Union Leader, has reduced employment opportunities for pilots in Australia to the extent he has. Never before have so many lost out for the benefit of so few.

The Baron
13th Mar 2009, 20:52
Any truth in the rumours doing the rounds that AIPA had bankrolled the recent VIPA application to undermine the Feds?

SkyScanner
13th Mar 2009, 21:52
Any truth in the rumours doing the rounds that AIPA had bankrolled the recent VIPA application to undermine the Feds

None, zero, nadda

Don Diego
15th Mar 2009, 09:53
Well then Sky Scanner where did the money/strategy come from under a mushroom??:ugh:

The Baron
15th Mar 2009, 22:33
Seems they've all ducked for cover Don. Might be worth following up on that rumour...

WoodenEye
15th Mar 2009, 22:47
Any suggestion that AIPA 'bankrolled' VIPA's application for registration as a union has no basis in fact whatsoever.


It is simply another example of 'chinese whispers'. :(

SkyScanner
15th Mar 2009, 23:19
From their own backpockets Don:cool:

The Baron
16th Mar 2009, 10:11
90, plus or minus 10 per cent, pilots at $100 a throw plus commission from Cerebos, total not exceeding $40000 in assets. Legal bills conservatively estimated at between $150000 to $200000. So somebody has come to the party. According to to these guys, absolutely postively couldn't possibly be AIPA, so then who would possibly stand to gain from a successful application by VIPA ?

Don Diego
16th Mar 2009, 10:31
Oi Wooden I, are they like the whispers the EPG had with you and your cronies a few years ago???:=