An open letter to senior management
Thanks Buster!
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Great Posts Rated D.
Agree with Keg also.
There is a massive global pilot shortage. It's all due to a mass of retirements.
Qantas and global airlines that have created a multitude of subsidiaries have created tranches of lower paid jobs and job insecurity.
Pilots are by nature conservative so scare tactics work on them brilliantly. Standard line of sign xxx at airline xxx or company xxx will take Your flying.
But here is the rub. You can get paid far more and have a far more stable home life by going into other careers now. Airline work has got harder, less flexible and more intense. Other jobs have gone the opposite way and younger people don't see flying as an attractive option.
The Networks, Jetconnects, QLinks, etc etc just don't provide the incentives to get people to spent $200,000 plus on their training. This was not the case when the baby boomers joined. Pilots then were well paid in comparison, rostering was decent, and it was a respected position. You could choose between Qantas,Ansett or Australian/TAA. But this massive surge of baby boomers will all hit retirement age very shortly.
As Keg alluded to Jetconnect/Qlink can't crew flights. The operation is in complete chaos. You can only treat people like s$&@ for so long. Loyalty is gone.
The Trojan horse is weakening.
But Threatening a pilot with fear has worked, so Qantas will wheel it out regardless as it's always worked in the past. SH EA due?
IMHO they risk so much if they pull that tactic. The SH pilots are already worked to the bone. CEO is paid $25 million plus, Andrew David 8.18 million. Turnaround transformation. Game changing. Exec pay up by a multiple of 25 times.
But please mr/mrs SH pilot. Work 92 hours a month over Christmas for us to fill in for cancelled flying whilst we simultaneously threaten you at EA time with Jetconnect.
It's like the boy who cried wolf. Globally companies have tried this over and over as pay and conditions have reduced.
But trust has reduced too, along with goodwill. Like fuel it can run out with dire consequences.
Eventually crews will have enough and not care about "helping out" whilst simultaneously being threatened and losing precious time from their loved ones.
To pull that with Christmas and holidays approaching reminds me of the top gun quote, "Gutsiest move I ever saw MAV".
Agree with Keg also.
There is a massive global pilot shortage. It's all due to a mass of retirements.
Qantas and global airlines that have created a multitude of subsidiaries have created tranches of lower paid jobs and job insecurity.
Pilots are by nature conservative so scare tactics work on them brilliantly. Standard line of sign xxx at airline xxx or company xxx will take Your flying.
But here is the rub. You can get paid far more and have a far more stable home life by going into other careers now. Airline work has got harder, less flexible and more intense. Other jobs have gone the opposite way and younger people don't see flying as an attractive option.
The Networks, Jetconnects, QLinks, etc etc just don't provide the incentives to get people to spent $200,000 plus on their training. This was not the case when the baby boomers joined. Pilots then were well paid in comparison, rostering was decent, and it was a respected position. You could choose between Qantas,Ansett or Australian/TAA. But this massive surge of baby boomers will all hit retirement age very shortly.
As Keg alluded to Jetconnect/Qlink can't crew flights. The operation is in complete chaos. You can only treat people like s$&@ for so long. Loyalty is gone.
The Trojan horse is weakening.
But Threatening a pilot with fear has worked, so Qantas will wheel it out regardless as it's always worked in the past. SH EA due?
IMHO they risk so much if they pull that tactic. The SH pilots are already worked to the bone. CEO is paid $25 million plus, Andrew David 8.18 million. Turnaround transformation. Game changing. Exec pay up by a multiple of 25 times.
But please mr/mrs SH pilot. Work 92 hours a month over Christmas for us to fill in for cancelled flying whilst we simultaneously threaten you at EA time with Jetconnect.
It's like the boy who cried wolf. Globally companies have tried this over and over as pay and conditions have reduced.
But trust has reduced too, along with goodwill. Like fuel it can run out with dire consequences.
Eventually crews will have enough and not care about "helping out" whilst simultaneously being threatened and losing precious time from their loved ones.
To pull that with Christmas and holidays approaching reminds me of the top gun quote, "Gutsiest move I ever saw MAV".
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Great Posts Rated D.
Agree with Keg also.
There is a massive global pilot shortage. It's all due to a mass of retirements.
Qantas and global airlines that have created a multitude of subsidiaries have created tranches of lower paid jobs and job insecurity.
Pilots are by nature conservative so scare tactics work on them brilliantly. Standard line of sign xxx at airline xxx or company xxx will take Your flying.
But here is the rub. You can get paid far more and have a far more stable home life by going into other careers now. Airline work has got harder, less flexible and more intense. Other jobs have gone the opposite way and younger people don't see flying as an attractive option.
The Networks, Jetconnects, QLinks, etc etc just don't provide the incentives to get people to spent $200,000 plus on their training. This was not the case when the baby boomers joined. Pilots then were well paid in comparison, rostering was decent, and it was a respected position. You could choose between Qantas,Ansett or Australian/TAA. But this massive surge of baby boomers will all hit retirement age very shortly.
As Keg alluded to Jetconnect/Qlink can't crew flights. The operation is in complete chaos. You can only treat people like s$&@ for so long. Loyalty is gone.
The Trojan horse is weakening.
But Threatening a pilot with fear has worked, so Qantas will wheel it out regardless as it's always worked in the past. SH EA due?
IMHO they risk so much if they pull that tactic. The SH pilots are already worked to the bone. CEO is paid $25 million plus, Andrew David 8.18 million. Turnaround transformation. Game changing. Exec pay up by a multiple of 25 times.
But please mr/mrs SH pilot. Work 92 hours a month over Christmas for us to fill in for cancelled flying whilst we simultaneously threaten you at EA time with Jetconnect.
It's like the boy who cried wolf. Globally companies have tried this over and over as pay and conditions have reduced.
But trust has reduced too, along with goodwill. Like fuel it can run out with dire consequences.
Eventually crews will have enough and not care about "helping out" whilst simultaneously being threatened and losing precious time from their loved ones.
To pull that with Christmas and holidays approaching reminds me of the top gun quote, "Gutsiest move I ever saw MAV".
Agree with Keg also.
There is a massive global pilot shortage. It's all due to a mass of retirements.
Qantas and global airlines that have created a multitude of subsidiaries have created tranches of lower paid jobs and job insecurity.
Pilots are by nature conservative so scare tactics work on them brilliantly. Standard line of sign xxx at airline xxx or company xxx will take Your flying.
But here is the rub. You can get paid far more and have a far more stable home life by going into other careers now. Airline work has got harder, less flexible and more intense. Other jobs have gone the opposite way and younger people don't see flying as an attractive option.
The Networks, Jetconnects, QLinks, etc etc just don't provide the incentives to get people to spent $200,000 plus on their training. This was not the case when the baby boomers joined. Pilots then were well paid in comparison, rostering was decent, and it was a respected position. You could choose between Qantas,Ansett or Australian/TAA. But this massive surge of baby boomers will all hit retirement age very shortly.
As Keg alluded to Jetconnect/Qlink can't crew flights. The operation is in complete chaos. You can only treat people like s$&@ for so long. Loyalty is gone.
The Trojan horse is weakening.
But Threatening a pilot with fear has worked, so Qantas will wheel it out regardless as it's always worked in the past. SH EA due?
IMHO they risk so much if they pull that tactic. The SH pilots are already worked to the bone. CEO is paid $25 million plus, Andrew David 8.18 million. Turnaround transformation. Game changing. Exec pay up by a multiple of 25 times.
But please mr/mrs SH pilot. Work 92 hours a month over Christmas for us to fill in for cancelled flying whilst we simultaneously threaten you at EA time with Jetconnect.
It's like the boy who cried wolf. Globally companies have tried this over and over as pay and conditions have reduced.
But trust has reduced too, along with goodwill. Like fuel it can run out with dire consequences.
Eventually crews will have enough and not care about "helping out" whilst simultaneously being threatened and losing precious time from their loved ones.
To pull that with Christmas and holidays approaching reminds me of the top gun quote, "Gutsiest move I ever saw MAV".
Fatigue is at epidemic levels, and every pilot understands that there is no relief in sight. I can only speak for SH, but we are witnessing an uncontained failure of the system. Pilots are pulling the pin mid duty due fatigue (with complete justification), reserve callouts are being crewed, but then as a consequence the following duties are then in the fatigue zone and going uncrewed, with up to 100 cancellations in a week for SH just due to lack of crew.
By their own documentation they run a "Reactive Fatigue Management system" (stop and think about what those words actually mean) FRMS. That is it, that IS the fatigue plan. Rostering under the 48 exemption only considering the numerical values. The entire clause that says "the Operator Shall not roster fatiguing duties" has been excised from the system. Every possible work day is rostered, you are required actively opt out. Silence is compliance.
Rosters are coming out at 77+ hours stick per bid period 28 days consisting of mixing up 0500 starts 4 leg/ 11:00+ planned days with 2, 3 or 4 aircraft, followed the next day by a DPS finishing at 0030 (0130 by the time you actually make it to bed). Then a BOC sector home, to back up the next day for 4 legs finishing at 2130+. Two "days off" (56 hours) and an 0500 start 11:00+ for 4 legs, wash, lather rinse and repeat. Try doing that for a couple of months. That is before we even start to talk about reserve callouts.
Training Captains are starting to hit annual 950 stick limits and can't be paired with trainee's.
Management are the deer in the headlights now, paralysed. They simply cannot comprehend a genuine solution. The multiple base strategy (hello Ansett anyone?) may have saved a few bucks on hotels over the years, but as a consequence, they now have a complete rostering disaster on their hands. The only possible solution left is multi-day trips with 3 legs per day for every base wherever they can.
Hotel costs will go through the roof, but the optimisation for for minimising that cost only worked in one scenario (short term) and has led to a brittleness of the system once flying ramped up. They have all their crew in all the wrong spots.
There is nobody else to blame, and they know it. So no, SH won't be helping out this Christmas, or next or the one after that. At the rate things are going, there will be severe fatigue consequences for the system as it starts to actually cause long term health issues. Self confessed "1000 hour men" have discovered their constitutions and health aren't quite as resilient as they thought after a couple of years.
Every genuine attempt to substantially improve rostering over the years has been stonewalled. They could crew the system with less fatigue, but the multiple base strategy mean is will cost big money to do it. This is a consequence of business decisions that have been made in the past, SH as a cash cow to be milked rapaciously. Crisis is an often an overused cliche, but that label can now be firmly affixed to SH.
The Qantas Source documents the daily cancellations.
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There is a massive global pilot shortage. It's all due to a mass of retirements.
Adversarial IR modeled their practices on unlimited supply. Supply is now limited. I know numerous Ryan air pilots who have had enough, no amount of threats will work. Having pulled the curtain back they exposed the model for what it is; adversarial but ultimately flawed: The emperor has no clothes.
Pilots were grounded, locked out and threatened. Every statement Mr Joyce made to his pilots was derogatory, just like O'Leary. They had their fun at your expense, the ignored the human cost and now Mr Joyce is the most heavily remunerated CEO in Australia!
The model is fundamentally flawed: Supply is limited and they have accelerated their own demise by driving conditions to a point where the return on investment just does not exist. They won for a few decades.
I would be watching your myopic union, giving handshake concessions, 'in the spirit of co-operation' As I am informed privately by whom I assume are Qantas pilots the company already are in breach on 'available days' use and not actually paying back the days as per your short haul agreement?
Thus the issue is not the crewing of Jetconnect, that is naturally in crisis, what ought concern pilots is simply the precedent. If your union gives ground and offers a concession the next down turn sees more threats.
The model is a hammer and every problem must be a nail..
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Every genuine attempt to substantially improve rostering over the years has been stonewalled. They could crew the system with less fatigue,
They made the limits targets and were rewarded for it. Mean reversion comes to mind
But please mr/mrs SH pilot. Work 92 hours a month over Christmas for us to fill in for cancelled flying whilst we simultaneously threaten you at EA time with Jetconnect.
It's like the boy who cried wolf. Globally companies have tried this over and over as pay and conditions have reduced.
But trust has reduced too, along with goodwill. Like fuel it can run out with dire consequences.
It's like the boy who cried wolf. Globally companies have tried this over and over as pay and conditions have reduced.
But trust has reduced too, along with goodwill. Like fuel it can run out with dire consequences.
Kudos to the Cobham contract pilots for their industrial campaign, withdrawing co-operation has big impact when the whole thing relies on good will. Management spent that, laughing all the way to their personal bank...Helping out, is like drugs; just say NO!
Last edited by Rated De; 4th Dec 2017 at 22:18.
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If AJ reads the Fragrant Harbour section. Would he not think there are a few more cuts to be made?
At CEO level 'interactions' (at Qantas and CX) would have about six direct reports, and the BS is filtered and crafted upwards, massaging the message and CYA. This is a fundamental difference between hierarchy management and flatter more egalitarian models that tend to empower line operations decision making rather than close them down. Rupert Hogg and Alan Joyce are not the sort of 'leaders' to get out among the troops and solicit opinion. They run their 'battle' from the bunker....They probably need a security detail to interact with anyone. So chances are they both are planning their Christmas lunch.
Pilots assumed the war was over, sadly it never is. Pursuit of lower unit cost of labour has no end date and until this commercially impact either carrier the demographic surge will drive supply issues.
Eventually only the airlines who decide that the model is flawed and failed and thus decide people deserve respect will survive. Whether QF or CX continue down their well established adversarial path is unknown, but as yet they simply refuse to hear the message, but one wonder whether they have the processes in place to even know where to listen...
I think its safe to say that QF etc. will never concede that they have fvcked up until a return to a more respectful IR model is both profitable and can be disguised as their idea. They have vowed to never empower staff by conceding that the model is ineffective.
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They have vowed to never empower staff by conceding that the model is ineffective.
To a hammer everything is a nail.
A screaming full page ad for Ryanair TR and NTR captains in my latest ‘Flight’ mag. ‘What’s New’ and ‘Other Good Stuff’ highlighted.
What was that about ‘cloud bunnies’ and ‘aerosexuals’ that O’Leary sneered about some years ago?
What was that about ‘cloud bunnies’ and ‘aerosexuals’ that O’Leary sneered about some years ago?
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Not really required for our leaders.
One of the best things about working in ‘the group’ is being able to complete our annual engagement survey, or in other words, an ‘open letter’ to management knowing that it will be seen and acted upon from those at the very top of our organisation.
JLS.
One of the best things about working in ‘the group’ is being able to complete our annual engagement survey, or in other words, an ‘open letter’ to management knowing that it will be seen and acted upon from those at the very top of our organisation.
JLS.
Not really required for our leaders.
One of the best things about working in ‘the group’ is being able to complete our annual engagement survey, or in other words, an ‘open letter’ to management knowing that it will be seen and acted upon from those at the very top of our organisation.
JLS.
One of the best things about working in ‘the group’ is being able to complete our annual engagement survey, or in other words, an ‘open letter’ to management knowing that it will be seen and acted upon from those at the very top of our organisation.
JLS.
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I call BS Jetlikespeeds
In years gone by as a staff initiated suggestion I’ve proposed as a way to dramatically improve the Company’s bottom line was for numerous senior managers to go and drop dead .
Not one of them listened , they’re mostly still here ticket clipping their way to multi million dollar bonus’.
complete our annual engagement survey, or in other words, an ‘open letter’ to management knowing that it will be seen and acted upon from those at the very top of our organisation.
Not one of them listened , they’re mostly still here ticket clipping their way to multi million dollar bonus’.
Kudos to the Cobham contract pilots for their industrial campaign, withdrawing co-operation has big impact when the whole thing relies on good will.
The union is about to recommend red tail pilots sign the latest deal - which is an absolute joke.
Some $15k less base salary than their F100 counterparts - and the 717 is a bigger aircraft!
Not to mention the immediate cessation of PIA effective the day the draft agreement was accepted by the reps. Convenient considering the festive season is just around the corner. Many are thinking they’ll vote it down anyway.
Whilst I don’t know anything of the individual awards, expecting a $15000 pay rise cause the guys next door are paid more will never happen.
3% is about all anyone gets.
Unless you’re Alan Joyce
3% is about all anyone gets.
Unless you’re Alan Joyce
Last edited by Aussie Fo; 8th Dec 2017 at 02:44. Reason: Grammar and humour