MEDWUN
Been very quite on the vote side with your EBA.What was the result or has that not been decided yet?
OOFY

Medwun,

Where is the latest vote up to?

Is the management deliberately stalling to be able to take advantage of the new IR "Operational Reasons" cause to sack you all then re-employ you at bugger all pay? Just like the meat workers - or are they just gonna bring in some chinese nationals on "special use" visa's like the saw mill in Mount Gambier?

You boys getting fed and cynical about the managment yet?

The good news for the RFDS Pilot's is that I don't think you are going to find many people overseas who would have the experience and want to live in Mount Isa, Meeka, Derby, Hedland, Port Augusta etc for less than say $50K

Not many overseas operators would be charging into poorly lit dirt airstrips everynight of the week? It's one thing to fly around at night from major airport to major airport with good lighting, landing at remote strips with either crap solar PAL or flares is another thing all together!!

EBA update

Sorry for not posting for a while, but basically I haven't had much to report.

After the last ballot whereby we had to determine which way pilots wanted to structure the salary there was not much in the way of negotiation. The ballot came out marginally in favour of the union's proposal and we were a bit miffed as to why there were so many votes in favour of management when prior to the ballot the majority of pilots SAID that they would support the union's proposal.

Sometime after the dust had settled over the ballot it was discovered that a certain manager had got to our newbies and gave them a little incentive to vote for management... Here in Central ops we have two incremental tiers in our salary; level 1 for the first 3 years of service and level 2 thereafter, with the proviso that management can adjust it either way depending on the experience of the new recruit and/or the performance or lack thereof of the employee. Whilst chatting with the newbies our manager had said that if the EBA was cleared up quickly then he could work on reviewing the incremental increase for any pilot that was not on the level 2 salary which is a difference of about 5k...

As the ballot was a bit marginal it was recommended by the commissioner that it would be best to pursue the management model as the EBA could be a very long, drawn out process. After that (about mid Jan) there has been one or two meetings to clarify some of the clauses in the EBA and then there seems to have been some sort of delay/stall in getting the EBA out to the pilots for a vote. The new IR laws came around and we got told by management that they would look at the ramifications of the new laws and what, if anything, applied to the EBA. There was some dialogue from their lawyer about the Electrolux decision and some other drivel and we have now got to the position of the EBA document about to be posted to pilots for consultation and a vote. The consultative period is a 14 day period then the ballot takes place.

There is one issue which our union has alerted us to, that being the EBA signed off as a 170lj agreement as opposed to a 170lk. The difference is that the lj agreement requires management to consult with unions and reps, the lk agreement allows them to directly negotiate with individual employees.

Once we have the results of the vote I will post the outcome.

Thanks all for your continued interest.

[QUOTE=medwun]EBA update
a certain manager had got to our newbies and gave them a little incentive to vote for management... Here in Central ops we have two incremental tiers in our salary; level 1 for the first 3 years of service and level 2 thereafter, with the proviso that management can adjust it either way depending on the experience of the new recruit and/or the performance or lack thereof of the employee. Whilst chatting with the newbies our manager had said that if the EBA was cleared up quickly then he could work on reviewing the incremental increase for any pilot that was not on the level 2 salary which is a difference of about 5k...

Could this be construed as bribery, or buying votes??
Would this be allowed at other elections/votes?

Medwun

I hear a rumour that when full time staff have resigned in the last 6 months that the company is now employing the replacement full time postion as a contract position.

Is this just another way to control the pilots, another way to provide a disincentive for people to speak their mind or show any dissent to the management - wondering if they will be "penalized" at the end of their contract when they are up for renewal?

What are they doing trying to do, breed a generation of automonons - kinda mushroom farm isn't it?

:confused:

EBA result
 

The Central Ops EBA has been finalised with the vote result being 13 for, 7 against and 3 abstainers/informal.

Wage increases were 12% (4,4,4) for Adelaide and Port Augusta pilots and 15% (4,6,5) for Alice pilots. There were a few other added bonuses such as a refuelling allowance for PAG pilots and increases in the Alice living allowance which is now linked to CPI increases. Management were vehement about not recognising time worked past normal shift times in any way, ie penalty rates or TOIL. Recently management tried to re-write their tasking policy whereby they wanted to be able to make crews work past scheduled shift finish times on non urgent tasks but that was resisted by both nurses and pilots and was effectively scrapped. We still accept tasks which have Med 1 priority which take us past shift times if there is no other option and there are no fatigue/weather issues that would prevent the flight.

Reeheet, you are right, it seems that any vacant position that becomes available is now a 3 year contract. I have recently resigned and my permanent position has been advertised as a 3 year contract which is required to provide relief at other bases. I suspect that every position which becomes available from now on will be the same, and I can assure you that there will be quite a few retirements and possible resignations within the next year or so. Given those facts, working at Central Ops is not really a prospective long term career move, which is what I think management wants. Given time they may realise the value of experienced aeromed GA pilots.

What's left?
 

Thanks for your insights medwun. It makes one wonder why become a professional pilot anymore - really... There is hardly any long term careers left in GA and now what I thought was the top of the heap in that area in Oz is also crumbling. Look to the airlines and what's left there? Nothing but the same sort of caper. One day everyone will realise there is nothing left at the top of the ladder and nothing left worth struggling through (and backstabbing! :yuk: ) to get there! Nobody will be left to fly the shiny machines and the government will be forced to review pay and conditions and industry practice in general. Ahhh, yes, like that will happen - pipe dreams...! :{

All I can say is I really hope management realise their stupidity and amend their ways before a seriously good and worthy organisation suffers from the grass roots up and goes beyond recovery.... The RFDS reputation hasn't been formed by management so much as the hard working crews who do a top job under all manner of conditions. If they lose the dedicated professionals at the coal face and things start going bad it doesn't bode well for the future of management either... WAKE UP!! :\

Further to that. Incompetence within management seems to be, more often than not, undoing the good work of the employees.

It appears that RFDS management Aust wide are starting to have the same view on how they treat there staff.
"Gone are the days when you would aspire to work or make a career of it with the RFDS"
Unfortunately the management is unaccountable to any body on how they waste public donations on a daily basis.
It is the staff at the coal face which have made it the icon to which it is today an the management is undoing all that hard work.

OOFY

I believe that a lot of the RFDS operational crew are a little annoyed that the admin staff appear to be running the RFDS.
'The tail wagging the dog'
The section I am involved with has a great Aviation Management Team - I only hope that the other Managers don't catch fire.

Hurlingham,

Would be interested in passing a couple of questions your way but noticed that I can't email or message you.

Could I be so bold as to ask if you might like to send me an email [email protected] and I can email you in return with my questions?

I'll understand if you can't or won't but figured there would be no harm in asking?! :)

Tricky one.
Know a guy whow died at Nanuttarra years ago, local station guy tried to fly him to the docs but didnt make it.
RFDS flight had low priority guy not Aboriginal or T Ilander.

Allthough I worked for them (after that) I consider it an emergency service at times - Id say dont do this job just for money, hrs or type.

it has a reason and is required go back 30 years and that is where it its not the same now sorry to say.

Not good enough
 

It's not good enough It never was.
We have elected a govenment, and pay taxes to them so they can povide the sevices the country needs. Not just the east coast.The WHOLE COUNTRY.They ae not doing it.
One of their responsibilities is to provide medical sevices to ALL australians regardless of where they live. They are half doing it.
Another service they should provide is police and administration to ensure law and oder. They are not doiing it.

We have billions of dollars to send our troops around the world but cannot provide a satisfactory safe place for our own people to live in. Except those on the east coast.

The things that have been revealed recently on TV are horrific. But do you think these are isolated events? Or only a recent development? Then think again.

I remember(more than a decade ago) when I flew an RFDS kingair out to an isolated community to evacuate a man who had been stabbed.On the way out we were informed by radio that the nurse was barricaded in the clinic with the patient, and people were on the roof tying to get in. The nearest police had been notified, but could not get there immediately.It was a four hour drive. Our patient had won his knife fight, killing the other man.
We did the evacuation ok

Petrol sniffers were everywhere then, and they still are. Little progess has been made.

And our RFDS crews are rostered for long shifts, and expected to commence long flights late in the shift, which will take them well beyond their shift end time. It has always been so. RFDS management have resisted the idea of paying overtime for extended shift time, and this suggests to me that they intend to do much of it in the future. They should not be rostered for very long shifts anyway.
I have been told that, If they do not accept a flight, they ae required to fill in forms which are sent to a committee in the capital city for assessment. Also, the fatigue amagement system tells them that five hours sleep a night is sufficient.

Our RFDS crews deserve much better than this. They ae responsible professionals. The runs are on the board.

There is no need for it to be like this. The job is being half done.
And only for commercial reasons. They just will not spend the money to have enough crew to do the job properly. The crews cannot complain, as they have to front up for a rating renewal to the same people who they are arguing with. It has always been so.

Why do our government avoid their esponsibility to TOTALLY fund the RFDS????? Why do they have to raise money from public fund raising to pay the bills????.
I remmber many years ago, I was chief pilot of another oganisation, and paid much attention to flight and duty time limitations. I was expected to do so.
I was asked to do some relief work for the RFDS, and got rostered on for the weekend. Only me. There was hardly any night flying in those days, and I knew there were a couple of other pilots I could call on if I got busy. Sure enough I got busy, and could not contact another pilot, so just had to handle it by myself for the whole weekend. This was common. At one time the rosters had a note on the bottom instructing pilots to declare a mercy flight if they were going to exceed duty times. This note was removed when they realised it was an admission that they did not have enough staff.

And it appears that that problem is still there. It should be fixed .And they CAN fix it. Why don"t they????? Money-Bloody money!!!

Things appear to be deteriorating, and the dedicated professional pilots , who have operated a safe, essential service for decades, are now changing over to three year contracts. If the RFDS changes to having a continually changing steam of inexperienced pilots, like a lot of GA, then, it will be difficult to maintain the enviable safety standards that they have in the past.

Austalia is reasonably civilised on the east coast. But much of the outback is no more civilised than the places our troops go to. Because our government and our RFDS managers do not seem to care.

WAKE UP AUSTRALIA

bushy very passionate and never a truer word(s) said!!! 'We are a very narrow stem of a very big mushroom struggling to hold it all up.'

cheers Pee Three.

Can't agree more with you Bushy.
I would add that all fixed wing Medivac be in the same pot, although there are those that operate with no backing from Govt. and aim to achieve profit.
How old are the Be200's that RFDS operate these days?

RFDS cries poor but seem to be able to afford up to date gear. Great to have and worthy of but why can't they look after the crew?
Managers ...... love em or at least run em over with something heavy

Bushy!!!
Well said. A letter like this should be exposed to the media so that some of this ROT should be stopped.

Cheers OOFY

Ahhhhh good. The Bushy of old is back. There I was thinking he'd been replaced by an imposter....... :} :} :}

Well it weems that you boys have been done over royally and that some of your "New Hire" colleges have well and truely bent over the people trying to give them their own career.
It isn't any wonder that you and others are leaving and Bushy is correct
-there just isn't any future left any more.
Will it take another "unfortunate incident" to get the management to regoconize and comprehend the need and value of "a body of experienced and profesional pilots"?
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