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WonkiLeaks
28th Mar 2016, 01:04
This soon to be released NTC arrived at the desk of Wonkileaks from an unverified source.


Dear Pilots,

We feel sure that the recently implemented Absence Management and Sick Leave policy demonstrates our commitment to your well being. In a further demonstration of how committed we are to improving your well being we take great pleasure in announcing a further improvement to yours conditions of service.

Firstly a little bit of background. The Management team has been looking at further ways to stabilise your rosters and consequently manage fatigue, particularly for the Airbus and B744 rosters which has resulted in a lot of overtime and consequent increase in fatigue.

A decision was made to reach to the top tier of Cathay management for their advice and input.
This approach was made after some members of this management team viewed the interview of our CEO on Bloomberg TV following the announcement of our profit results. It is an interview we feel will find its way in to the curriculum of most business studies taught by the finest universities.
The reporter conducting the interview looked so obviously startled at her realisation that she was no match for the intellect of our CEO who graciously pointed out that despite our fuel hedging losses and future hedging position, cheap fuel is good for our airline.
We fuel sure that viewers of Bloomberg TV, many who are CEO s of major corporations, senior partners, financial controllers and otherwise considered to be reasonably intelligent must have also felt somewhat humbled on hearing an utterance from our CEO that can be considered as equal to any wisdom that came from the Biblical character of Solomon.
Our approach to our CEO was well received and he assured us that the issue of roster stability and fatigue minimisation was to be the number one priority for the airline as a whole. He pointed out that the finest strategic thinking minds are to be found in the fuel hedging team and now that fuel hedges have been taken out to 2018 to make our future earnings more predictable the hedging team could find the time to apply their not inconsiderable ability to this important matter.

We have been concerned for a long time with the link between fatigue and overtime. It is a proven concept that overtime leads to fatigue. Our crew controllers are charged with the duty to manage overtime closely in order to limit it. They have over the years been very effective at doing this, thus reducing your fatigue levels. Given the present industrial climate this has proved somewhat more difficult. It is no longer a simple matter to find volunteers on G days under the overtime threshold who are willing to take what otherwise would have been paid as overtime.

We are delighted to announce that effective the 1st of May and with the input of the highest level of Cathay management and the direction of the fuel hedging team your overtime threshold is now increased to 94 hours.

The link between overtime and fatigue has been broken. The hours between the previous overtime threshold of 84 hours and the new threshold of 94 hours are no longer considered to be overtime and therefore not as fatiguing as would have been the case had they been considered to be overtime.

Sometimes the best solutions are the ones that with hindsight seem so obvious.

We expect that this improvement will result in a 85% reduction of overtime and in resultant fatigue. After a trial period of 6 months we will consider further increase to the overtime threshold in order to further reduce fatigue. This is all designed with you and your welfare in mind.

This measure will help alleviate some of the fuel hedging losses and we expect that you will feel that the mitigation in fatigue inducing rosters will more than compensate for any monetary loss.
We further expect that this will in the future lead to a greater profit share which will be equally disbursed among all Cathay staff irrespective of level of responsibility and individual contribution to profitability. This is after all completely fair and fairness is a central pillar of our corporate ethos as it applies to employees.

This management team is thankful for the direction it has received and we feel sure other airlines will adopt this policy as it will now represent best practice.

Yours sincerely

The Management team

raven11
28th Mar 2016, 12:44
Well done Wonkileaks.....well done!

OK4Wire
28th Mar 2016, 13:17
Never, ever! (no matter what they promise you!).

Will IB Fayed
28th Mar 2016, 13:23
LOL. 10 bucks says the AOA reps who are so desperate to implement a PBS are more than happy to give up the 84hr threshold.

SOPS
28th Mar 2016, 14:32
Just have a look what happened at EK, when overnight they shifted the overtime threshold from 78 hours to 92. It went from a great job to something a lot lot less than that.

Average Fool
28th Mar 2016, 16:30
I would only agree to 94 hours if they give us back the other half of the crew lounge they took.

No exceptions

mrfox
28th Mar 2016, 17:44
Shirley you are not serious?
How about 72 hours and they can take away the whole damn thing?

Natca
28th Mar 2016, 18:11
Pbs is a concession

Average Fool
28th Mar 2016, 21:54
I'm not serious. But something tells me this pilot group will allow something just like it.

And don't call me Shirley

geh065
29th Mar 2016, 00:04
We must never ever ever ever give up 5-4-3...oh wait...nevermind.

Hellenic aviator
29th Mar 2016, 04:18
We must never ever ever ever give up 5-4-3...oh wait...nevermind.

You can thank Murray G for that one. What did we get? A Days.....oh wait.:ouch:

CX-HOR
29th Mar 2016, 05:37
No, from memory Steve T was at the helm for 5-4-3, Murray gave us credit free reserve in return for A days and Paul W successfully brought in RA65 without 25 year housing and without bypass for those affected. But then again it really was the members who voted these changes in that are responsible isn't it?

AQIS Boigu
29th Mar 2016, 05:37
...and W patterns...

OK4Wire
29th Mar 2016, 06:22
...and let's not ever give up our 8 weeks leave ('94)
and 700 hours ('99?).

Shep69
29th Mar 2016, 07:02
It all makes perfect sense now and how could I have been so blind as to question such a brilliant combination of productivity increasing measures.

I guess the new coffee is in actuality a tasty, cleverly engineered super caffeinated blend conceived by the fatigue management experts. I was wondering why we suddenly started carrying large stocks of Red Bull energy drinks as well.

Things ARE looking up !

Trafalgar
29th Mar 2016, 07:07
Ok, let's review the history of the past 20 years:

- we have continually negotiated away some of the best aspects of our contracts

- the things we assumed we had 'gained', were then subsequently taken away arbitrarily by the company

- by default we ended up with NO gains, and the loss of all the valuable contract provisions

It is pretty obvious what we need to do: We need to categorically refuse to negotiate on ANY item we currently have, and instead fight to re-acquire the contract provisions that were 'stolen' from us.

A list of current items that MUST stay non-negotiable:

1) 84 hour overtime threshold
2) 42 days leave (for those who have it, and seek to obtain that for those who don't)
3) W-patterns

I'm sure many of you can think of other items to add to this list. It is beyond belief that we have lost 8 weeks leave, 5-4-3, A days etc. Forget 'negotiation'. We need to fight to get back what was taken. In future, we need to not be so naive and foolish.

OK4Wire
29th Mar 2016, 07:31
And I can't believe our gross stupidity for allowing our few, meager winnings to be subject to "policy" rather than being injected into our COS.

777300ER
29th Mar 2016, 08:04
Honest question here.. Thoughts on reducing the overtime threshold in exchange for a proportional reduction in base salary?

Trafalgar
29th Mar 2016, 08:38
ref the comment from 777300ER: wtf??? so when business finally slows down, they can fly us less, pay us less, or...more cynically, if they don't "like" you, then can just keep you on a reduced roster and pay you less. great plan.

777300ER
29th Mar 2016, 09:21
It isn't something I'm claiming would be a good idea. Simply posing the question here to discuss pros/cons. I ask because I can't help but to notice that whenever I talk to friends and acquaintances at other airlines with solid working rules and a more realistic work life balance, they almost always have significantly lower base thresholds. Seems there are two types of airlines. The likes of CX, EK, etc., with a fixed salary and a simplified model of maximising productivity at all costs, vs carriers like BA, AA, DL, UA, etc. all with lower minimum guarantee models.

Oh, the irony!!! And right here too, right after a series of examples about why we cannot ever give away anything in exchange for anything....

The problem isn't that we gave away or exchanged things, it's how we went about it. One would hope we could learn from our mistakes and protect ourselves in future exchanges (fallback clauses, COS addendum, etc.).

Average Fool
3rd Apr 2016, 06:18
Many of those airlines also have a way to increase your hours if desired as well as pay overrides for international/night flying.

The Visionary
3rd Apr 2016, 12:18
The AOA has been, and continues to, sell out its members. We've only gone backwards since 1994. Yes ST was the worst, PW next and then PV. RF talked the talk but has been a bit lame to be honest. I thought he was for a war but he just wanted a small battle.

We will be giving up something when they start talking again. We've given up housing now. Oh and BTW, those I-Cadets have STILL NOT received their seniority promised yet the AOA is going to talk to the company again. I am not at all surprised.

I wonder if members quit en-mass, the AOA, if it would get their attention as well, not just CX's. That last survey has gone quiet. When people quit the company they quit the AOA too. It shows lack of confidence in both really.

Trafalgar
3rd Apr 2016, 12:36
Visionary. I don't know quite what to think: which are you?, a) management, or b) freeloading d*ckhead. Help me out, a or b?. Thanks.

BlunderBus
4th Apr 2016, 00:07
You can thank Murray G for that one. What did we get? A Days.....oh wait.:ouch:
And now he's special advisor to AOA USA sitting in on negotiations.... Great!!!

anotherbusdriver
4th Apr 2016, 01:49
Murray G was the one who got the Housing deal you are on right now!
He got it pegged to the Government Index. He did the most spectacular win we have ever had. If not for that deal, all those on Housing would be on a lot less right now... Not pegged for inflation.
Well done Murray!

CX-HOR
4th Apr 2016, 02:00
A small correction I think. MG was pres for the housing deal but what was agreed was essentially the Company proposal not what the AOA had put forward. Perhaps someone a bit closer to negotiations could confirm this. A spectacular own goal by the Co on that one who couldn't forsee the rapid increase in Rents in HKG.

Average Fool
4th Apr 2016, 02:21
I love the blaming. "He lost this" "He gave away that"

When OUR biggest action is following a contract and complaining on PPrune, that's exactly what will happen.

WE will lose.

Trafalgar
4th Apr 2016, 02:41
AF. That 'action' is slowly strangling the company, in particular the training ban. The only way the company is coping is by cancelling dozens of flights a month. Don't buy into the company strategy of bluffing this out. They are losing, they know it. They can deal with many different actions, but dealing with people simply doing their jobs is something that they have no answer for.

Average Fool
4th Apr 2016, 03:47
Agreed. And the fact that they have in so many ways admitted it means it is really hurting.

Unfortunately with this bullying management style, we need more unified action to keep them from imposing reductions of our CoS.

So many f---ing rabbits working here.

Trafalgar
4th Apr 2016, 06:20
Personally, i'm so motivated by the generous profit sharing payout. I have committed the rest of my career to being a good employee: doing exactly as the contract states.