The trouble with V Australia...

[cauldron]

is the crappy [low cost] management they have.

Found this on a VB pilot blog the other day (author unknown). Nothing appears to have been done about it (despite formal complaints to a Lead Ostrich) so I thought it prudent to make the VA Management Philosophy Towards Pilots more widely known......

"....just for those tempted to go and work for V here is a look at who you will be dealing with. About 3 weeks ago the V HR manager stood up in front of a classroom of new employees, new Development Managers and new cabin crew instructors, and told her captive audience how much she loved people and their individual qualities yadda yadda yadda... she didn't waste to much time in proclaiming that V prefered to not to deal with unions in their workplace. They felt that it made for a better relationship to deal directly with their employees instead of having to go through a third party for every exchange. Eventually within the context of this particular rant her eyes rolled and she declared to all the new staff that "pilots.... well lets just say that pilots live a world of their own." The message was that pilots, in her not even remotely humble opinion, thought they were special and above all other employees. There were three further subtle, less overt remarks made during the drab presentation which also undermined the pilots in the company and set a foul tone towards the pilot group with these new employees ....."

Could this be the norm for Management behaviour at VA?

Do VA Managers have to abide by fair workplace policies? Judging by the comments of this particular manager, it looks as though they are exempt.

Aren't HR supposed to embody the 'culture' of a company? Scary stuff if this one does.

Aren't HR Managers supposed to be advocates of the employer AND the employee? Maybe VA HR is exempt from this particular traditional role.

What did the VA Flight Ops Manager have to say about this? Or was he/she the Lead Ostrich mentioned above?

Sounds to me like a good place to avoid.

[SIDS N STARS]

Sounds to me like a good place to avoid

Here endeth the lesson !!

[Mat Finish]

Michael O'Leary has been waiting years to meet a woman like this! Think of the offspring...

Mat Finish
..never a shiny moment

[wirgin blew]

Usual stuff from management trying to scare people off the FAAA so they can "bully" and "harass" CC who have no idea what they are getting into with V's poor conditions.

CC $39k, Cabin Leader $48k and Flight Manager $58k no extras other than overnight allowances.

Hardly worth the money and when they start turning the staff over they will realise that perhaps they should have offered more to start with and saved money on the training side of things.

[Ralph the Bong]

If a complaint about this has been raised, you would never know. A lot goes on behind closed doors and if the HR person has been spoken to, it would be a secret.

In a past company, a CC trainer worded up a bunch of new FAs that a
certain captain (who was named) was a "sleaze bag" and should be reported if he harrassed anybody. She lost her training position within days. Lucky for her she didn't face a lawsuit.

Cauldron, HR does not represent an employee. HR ALWAYS represents the EMPLOYER. This is why we have unions. If you are working in Australia, you are mad if you are not the member of a union.

Reading between the lines on this, it would seem that the conditions on offer have kept a lot of drivers away and they are having trouble finding people. I have heard that a number of pilots have said at the interview stage or when presented with the contract that the conditions are not acceptable. Could this be the context of "world of their own"?

[KRUSTY 34]

Quote:

"I have heard that a number of pilots have said at the interview stage or when presented with the contract that the conditions are acceptable. Could this be the context of "world of their own"?"

Acceptable, or not acceptable Ralph?

[neville_nobody]

Rumour has it that they are recruiting mostly foreigners from third world countries and South Africa or New Zealand. I guess for these folks any conditions would be acceptable if it means getting out.

[inandout]

That rumour is not correct, most are Australians.

[Betsy]

Their real problem, as quoted from someone in the revenue department, is that the load factors for the initial flights are only around 20%.

[Maisk Rotum]

Got an email a few weeks ago saying they have successfully recruited all the pilots they need for the first three aircraft. Five days later another email invited me to reapply!!!

Left hand not talking to the right?

[aviatorguy]

I think you'll find that a few of the pilots given the nod, and even course dates, decided to wait it out a bit longer due to the fuel price and potential downturn in the industry.

[another superlame]

At the end of the day V Oz is letting potential employees know all the in and outs of the job before they sign on the line.
They can make an informed decision knowing the salary on offer and whether or not they are happy with it.

It might not be the highest paying airline obviously, but at the same time no one has a gun to their head making them take the job.

So if people are joining knowing the pay scale good luck to them. If you were offered the position and knocked it back due to the pay scale then deal with it and go and find yourself another job, I am sick and tired of your whinging.

[Launchpad McQuack]

go and find yourself another job, I am sick and tired of your whinging

Who was whinging?? The only mention of below-average payscales relates to Cabin Crew...most comments here are observations and statements - and the crux of the thread is based on VA's decidedly average corporate culture and attitude towards tech-crew, not payscales.

The only whinging in this thread appears to be coming from you superlame, and you're certainly not being forced to read these/any posts.................................

[lordofthewings]

Doesnt matter where you go, HR people( not going to give them a manager title) are generally the same, liars, mistrustful and to top it off, wankers

[B043]

From what I hear VA is progressing well and many pilots are now wanting to get a start, with what sounds like an airline with alot of potential.

[Wiley]

VA HR Dept working a bit late tonight??

[Miles to go]

Sounds all very unprofessional to me. Maybe its a Queensland thing.

[Eclan]

The message was that pilots, in her not even remotely humble opinion, thought they were special and above all other employees

VA pilots will receive a percentage bonus each year which other employees do not receive. Obviously someone else must agree with this silly, gobby and poorly-disciplined HR amateur about pilots being in a different category (at least for pay purposes).

Got an email a few weeks ago saying they have successfully recruited all the pilots they need for the first three aircraft. Five days later another email invited me to reapply!!!

All in all when viewed from the larger airline community, it seems the V recruitment process, insofar as pilots are concerned, has been an utter shambles. That experience "requirements" have been repeatedly lowered and repeatedly failed to be achieved is only one of many, many disorganised aspects of the circus show. It'd be interesting to know to what extent this HR chick has contributed to that shambles.

Doesnt matter where you go, HR people( not going to give them a manager title) are generally the same, liars, mistrustful and to top it off, wankers

"Human Resources" is a parasite "industry" which the corporate world has been convinced is a requirement. HR require conflict in order to sustain the requirement for their existence. HR "management" skills can be taught at a TAFE level and in many employment sectors, it often takes very little knowledge, skill or training to become an "HR guru." In the modern aviation industry, there is no shortage of "HR gurus" who despite never having set foot in aviation previously, are able to become sudden experts in the field. They're also commonly known as "spivs". From what I've heard of her, this bimboistic airhead is one of them and not a particularly clever one at that.

From what I hear VA is progressing well and many pilots are now wanting to get a start, with what sounds like an airline with alot of potential.

Nice spin. And don't the management wish it were true... From what I've seen and hard so far, it's been something of an amateurish picture that's been presented of the whole V start-up. This woman's lack of common sense and corporate nouse and overall cluelessness merely serves to uphold a very poor picture.

At the end of the day V Oz is letting potential employees know all the in and outs of the job before they sign on the line.

Far from it. The contract leaves very much to the imagination. Having been around, most pilots will imagine the worst. Feel like working on your annual leave just because they told you to.... maybe Christmas Day when someone else is "sick"?

They can make an informed decision knowing the salary on offer and whether or not they are happy with it .......So if people are joining knowing the pay scale good luck to them.

A sadly naive, ignorant and uninformed view and, which is possibly worse, of obviously questionable motive as well. You'd do well to keep in mind that salary is not everything. If the contract had been more than a couple of pages long, then perhaps an informed decision could be made. As it stands, there is more that isn't mentioned in the contract than the contract is likely to go down in Australian aviation history as one of the most ludicrous and amateurish works of comedic literature ever foisted upon a professional pilot body.

[flamingmoe]

Remuneration.....$114,000, 1000hrs per year, 9 days off.

Contract then goes on to the subject of duty extensions, working days off, and yes, even on annual leave as a REQUIREMENT, to recover schedule disruptions or illness, thats right, you won't have a choice. But hey, at least you'll make some extra coin for your trouble right?? WRONG....

"all of these things have been considered in calculation of your base salary".

[neville_nobody]

That rumour is not correct, most are Australians.

Australians or people who can work in Australia? Bit of a difference.