It won't matter what I say on here about the LHR base as it would seem that those that don't work up here know more about it than those who are up here. So, I'll leave it for the experts to tell us "how it really is".

For those that are thinking of applying to work up here - I'm more than happy for you to PM me to find out what's actually happening. I've nothing to gain / lose by telling you how it really is.

God help me when I get back to Australia - I'd forgotten what a small bitter little place it is.

The fact that we "fight amongst each other" is symptomatic of the actions of our employer.
They have us, if you will, in competition for the available flying and our jobs.

It is a situation entirely of their own making so clearly they must be happy with the status quo.

After all, dick's son and the one they call "Il Duce" have both been to LHR to flame the fire.

geoff ought to be congratulated. Our (Qantas's) disfunctionality now mirrors his own.............

---------

As an aside, one of the visitors was lamenting the fact the other day that by and large, no crew speak to them.

Just another example of Qantas management's inability to understand the rather simple relationship between cause and effect.

After all, I don't imagine the Gestapo were overwhelmed with people calling in on them for, "tea and bickies"..........

Another round of ill informed lies from people who hear crap from story telling fools as factual truth.

Can you imagine buttering up pax and giving them a form in J or P class !!! hahahaha this is so funny it makes me think the "second gunman from the grassy knol" has got to be worked into it by the dream factory (bad advice and co.) or the crew fill out there own surveys. Have you seen how long one single one takes.

Thai crew and LHR crew have never got on better and are having joint socials even a few romances and yes the do complain about dirty old men from Aus and old hags who hassle them and they get to work in catagory on each flight now and not the usual L4A or R4A last option.

I enjoy working here and look forward to the 31 Aus L/H crew joining us over the next 3 months.

The base will save 21.3 million dollars this year and has achived every bench mark asked of it.

Sick leave is well within it's budget now and we have had only 13 people leave since Feb 2005 with 5 of them by force.

Please no more crap like "the GM throws away complaint letters" funny did you see him do it or was it another somebody told me story.

1 year on and the BS still flows as the LHR base gets bigger and better with wage talks starting next week between the union and company and the full crewing of 415 to welcome the daily HKG service thats why we need to balance aus/brit numbers as per the agreement.

Happy flying to the 99% of Aus crew who just do there job without writing or telling childish lies.

As well ,as some here are diverting attention from the real problem and that is the company and the acquiescent faaa's lack of attempts to fix them by fermenting trouble with the bases.

A lot of us are not happy about the bases but they are the result of the company's attitude to us not the actual cause of the problem...

If the faaa had not stuck it's head in the ground ,we might have actually been able to improve the conditions and pay for the LHR base and more Aust L/H crew could have gone there

As I have said before,has the company replaced the 6 aust crew positions yet after we gave dispensation.....NO....with the faaa's attitude what will the company demand of us at the next EBA....get ready for the gloved hand of Darth Dixon and pass the lubricant because we all know what the faaa will tell us..BEND OVER and be happy

Lower has been on this trail for months the FAAA seem to be missing in action when the members need there force.

It just proves that they are not taken seriously as Dixon just runs over the top of them and does what he wants when he wants.

I tell you it's every man for himself because the union has no idea.

Peanut Pusher

Didn’t realise you were an accountant and had access to the companies financial records!! $21.3 million hey! You must have done a complete audit of the books, or as you put it ‘did somebody just tell you this’! Too funny!

Didn’t also realise that you had access to employee’s personal files! I mean that’s the only way you would have any idea about sick leave levels and weather they met target or not. Let me guess, somebody also told you so! Again too funny!

Thai and LHR based crew getting on better then ever! I mean really, who’s the one telling childish lies? That is just hilarious!

Wage talks coming up hey!

Bad Adventures...

Strangely, our base tends to share it's progress (within reason) with the crew. I know it doesn't happen as much in Australia, but over here it's quite common to know how we're going against budget, what the sick leave levels are like (mostly because you get called out if it's high), who's got the boot (the base is small) and how recruitment is going.

It does work very differently up here and yes pay talks are on the way. If you were truly well informed as you claim you would know that our equivalent of an EBA is due to expire and the union is in talks with base management over pay and conditions. If you've any reason to doubt it, you are more than welcome to contact Amicus up here.

I have to say, you appear not to like us very much.

Lowerlobe - I agree with your sentiments. We have to work with what we have and make sure we don't lose anymore. I've said it multiple times in the past our bases need to work together rather than against each other.

Yes I do have access to all you have mentioned and ozskipper has hit the nail on the head with the information sharing culture.

Trust me BKK base and LHR base are getting along fine. The only problems I've ever seen is when all the Thai crew want to have a joint breakfast eating together while the rest of the crew run duty free orders at the end of the flight or when the are told no to the weekly request for mini breaks when they are working at night.

There were a couple of new CSS's a year ago who have found their feet and a little less highly strung.

Other than that they say SYD crew keep telling them the BKK base is going to close this year.

Funny I heard from fools like you LHR was closing 3 months after it opened.

Once again Bad Advice keep out of the professionals way and leave the work to the big boys.

Thanks for the insight Peanut!
So the LHR and the BKK crew are all chummy and getting along, that's NICE!
it really warms me!
You know peanut I couldnt not give a toss what the BKK crew think!

I have admit though you are correct about getting them out in to the galley when they want to have their communal breakfast or dinner.

Hopefully you also aware that they do their best to stir our bases up, A mate of mine is (friendly) with one of them and they have an agreement amongst each other that they stir and maintain the rivalry amongst us.
They BKK crew know of the concept "divided we fall united we stand"

I did post previously about the survey and the shredding of complaint letters in the LHR base, and that is what is doing the rounds now!, and I have been on flights were the Thais have initiated this topic by telling us that they see the LHR crew handing out surveys to the customers that they choose and that they do complete them in the galley.

That was quite a while ago, since then this knowledge has been circulating around the traps and it has gained momentum.

Peanut is there any truth about the OCCR being occupied by a NON f/a

So you have access to crew member’s personal files and have audited the company’s books. Ahhhh you’re a classic! Why don’t you smell what you’re shovelling but then again you’re no different to the visitors back here in OZ you’ve just become immune to your own stench. Not worth wasting anymore time responding to your jibber!

P.S Maybe can tell me my sick leave balance, as you access to my personal file!

peanutpuncher,

tell us about your head visitor (jellyneck is the name I believe) occupying the over head cabin crew rest despite not being EP trained.........

Breathtaking judgement for someone IN CHARGE of your, "operation", dont you think!??!!

The bags of goodies used to garner favourable surveys were found in the Y/C cabin.

Anyone else hearing that QF are wishing to cross crew Australian crew with those of the bastard child...........?

Ask each week what the sick leave is and you get it.

Small base and all CSM's know who got the boot and who has left and each 1/4 we get a tracking report from finance and our GM keeps all finance up front so we can use it to inform crews in briefings.

I've worked as a s/h & l/h f/a and s/h and l/h CSM and have worked out of SYD,MEL,SYD & LHR unlike the people who don't work here but know so much about LHR. I can compare as I have the runs on the board not just second hand stories.

CSM's and CSS hand out the forms by seat number in the pack and people may try and read them but I doubt anyone could spend the 20 minutes to complete one.

Never seen one completed by a crew member or ever heard about one being written by anyone ever.

There are over 500 handed out every month so alot of writing to be done.

Yes there was someone in the bunks who shouldn't of been there and it was a mistake, over the years I've seen the odd female crew members husband get a couple of hours rest in the bunks.

But you are correct it's a no no and won't happen again, thats for sure.

If thats what the Thai crew are telling you then that just proves how 2 faced they really are because they line up to unload on Aus crew.

Please no more stories unless it's factual with flight numbers etc.

As they say at the Chelsea home games, here we go here we go here we go.

This boring debate has been going for a year with the same old crap flying, please you do your work and I'll do mine.

If Thal crew have seen all these things go on then lets get it out in the open and get to the bottom of it.
Report anything that the Thai crew say and lets investigate them and get rid of anybody doing this.
Really, bags of what goodies on what flight were found in the Y/C cabin for bribing pax.
It was probably a service recovery for the crap IFE experiance they just recieved.
In the last 11 months I could of written about 6 reports re poor hand overs with log info missing, food in ovens, food in stowages etc etc but why be so childish when you can fix it in 2 minutes and get on with the real part of your job.

lowerlobe hit it on the head - if the faaa had of got off its egotistical arse and actually negotiated a decent wage & condition for the LHR base it would have been fully subcribed by Aust based crew and not be an issue - as it stands - they stuck their heads in sand and said "its not happening" those jobs given to UK nationals are gone forever -as much a result of faaa's short sightedness and managements desire to cut costs.
the LHR base exists with the current faaa's full endorsement - they included it in their 870 cap restrictions and they are respecting the seniority number of al those up there - so stop the bleating!

re the thais -thay are filthy because they have lost their 1-1-2 slipping pattern - which they were never actually entitled to because they have never been members of the faaa. At least Warner & Broome were trying to get the Thais unionised so they would be too expensive to employ - the current mob in the faaa offices have absolutely no policy or plan in place as to how to neutralise cheaper overseas bases.
also the fear with which thai crew talk about their management and the reprisals that will take place if they dissent is a disgrace.

so the thai's are upset, tch tch tch!
What a waste of members funds that little fiasco was in trying to unionise the Thai crew.
A little bit of research would have shown that the union movement in Thailand is non existant, they simply dont get the concept!, this is endemic in all third world countries.
If the company wants to save money I simply dont know why the company doesnt accomodate the BKK and AKL crew in cheaper accommodation, I can assure you that the rest of the membership would not care.
From what the BKK crew tell me, they dont utilise the central area in LHR as they cook in their rooms and spend all their time socialising together and saving their money,not that there is anything wrong with that.
Put them up at the airport hotel!

re the thais....

The whole batte was lost when we accepted the thai base about 10 years ago without a fight. None of the current or probably even previous FAAA officials were there when that happened.

Previous Union officials have made attempts to unionise the Thais and most of the ones that joined the union were sacked by ADDECCO including the rep that the Union paid about 20,000 AUD pa for.

Thirdly and finally read the FAAA newsletters about the LHR base. When you do you will see that the FAAA had no problem with crew being stationed in LHR or anywhere else and argued that there was a basing provsion in the award that covered it.

The company circumvented that in the same way they did with the thai base and AKL and employed them out of the jurisdiction of the AIRC and the FAAA.

Under the law of the UK, Qantas drew up an agreement with a UK union prior to the announcement of th base. Under British law thats the only union that can deal with Qantas for those workers. The FAAA had no capacity to negotiate. In fact they went to one of the TOP industrial lawyers and firms in the country to look for any avenues to intervene.

The advice was that as they were not employed in australia under australian law the FAAA had no jurisdiction and was therefore unable to negotiate.

Michael Mijatov flew to the UK and met with the union Qantas had chosen and the main BA cabin crew union as well as the UK equivalent. None of the advice taken in the UK and by australian lawyers gave the FAAA any scope to negotiate in the UK and Qantas refused to negitiate in Australia.

Crew themselves took the deal as it was. The one thing the FAAA at least tried to do for those ppl was recognise their seniority when they returned.

pegasus -
you seem to be up to speed on the history of the faaa -who exactly was running the union when the BKK base was announced and unopposed by the union - are any of these clowns still flying?
was it mcgraw & webb or was it everyone's MMMAAATEEE...Lou?

to be perfectly honest my memory is not as good as it once was ( radiation i think ) but i know it was not any of the current officials and i think in all fairness i dont think it was the previous. As for Lou i think he's only been on the Union for about 18 months. Like a lot of good supporters Lou supports whoever is in office. I think its only recently that he has thrown his hat into the ring.

i think thats its good to get a good cross section of the membership on the council. i would like to see more women onboard and perhaps they could give the guys more insight into motivating our girls to take a bit more interest in industrial issues.

The real challenge for us now is to be united and as least not turn on each other or the union. If the company gets a sniff that we are not united they will do what they did at Air NZ and set up a different union for the CSMs and CSS's. That would be the beginningh of the end for us all

pegasus 747 in your post you state

"Crew themselves took the deal as it was. The one thing the FAAA at least tried to do for those ppl was recognise their seniority when they returned"


you must be kidding, you helped people that willing went against the union advice, help set up a base that undermines our conditions! and you want the rest of the membership to be grateful that they can have their seniority returned, they arent even FAAA members, and you helped them retain their seniority!
So basically youre telling me that we dont even have to be FAAA members and you will fight for our conditions! faaaaaaaarrrrrrrrk

Pegasus747….I think there is a bit of convenient short term memory loss here…

When the meetings about the conditions and terms of the LHR base were being held prior to the base being set up, the faaa told everyone they would not recognize the seniority of that crew who chose to take up the offer of the LHR base.

Now you are telling us that the faaa wanted to recognize the seniority issue of those members when they come back.

Sounds as though you are taking out the quinella here and have an each way bet…

If memory also serves me ,it is one of the current incumbents who as an official of the faaa who signed off on the BKK base….

If it was someone else who signed off as a representative for the faaa then let us know who…

Also how would the company set up a union for crew members ????