Virgin Blue EBA
 

Hello

Has anyone heard anything about the Virgin Blue EBA? There has been talk about it for some time now, but not sure if it has been voted on yet. What is the vibe up in the air?

How are things at DJ? Are they going to go down the avenue of recruiting casuals like QF?

Thanks

We were told we were going to be able to vote on it in November. But it is now December and we haven't even seen a draft. :ugh:

So I guess we just keep waiting......waiting.....waiting.....


In the mean time I hope they don't spend all our pay rise on Management bonuses and parties for new airplanes. :E :E

Now now Smile, you wouldn't be being sarcastic there would you??? :E


Latest update is that the tech crew EBA vote was cancelled before it even got to voting stage... company is in the process of "changing" a few of the proposed clauses in their new agreement. Under Workchoices legislation they are apparently required to give the Techies 7 days to peruse the new proposed agreement before it goes to vote - so I doubt you will see anything before the new year. As far as the cabin crew one goes - well who knows!! Not heard a word from the company for I think a couple of months now... Although I have been told numerous times by sources of differing reliability that we wont see ours until the tech crew one is voted upon.

:ugh:

The CC EBA was going to be released last week but a couple of areas came under question, so VB/FAAA are hoping to have it out within the next week or two. There are no ties with the pilots EBA progress at all. As soon as the I's are dotted and T's crossed it will be out for all to see.
I for one am waiting to see what it looks like.

Anyone know anything about the backpay that was going to be paid on the 22nd of december, but wasnt paid?

Backpay?
 

When I contacted the trusty BNE H/O team on 22 Dec I was told that it had been stalled until Jan but could not be given a date for the payment.
As for the EBA...I'm happy if they take a bit more time, as long as they remove at least 75% of the ifs, buts ands and maybes from the content. I always understood that an EBA should be black and white but have to admit that I got lost in the double talk. But then again maybe I just needed things explaining to me in detail.
I still wouldn't swap my job for any other!!!

Hope all is going well for you Sinala1, have my CS PAC on 9th Jan, fingers crossed.

Virgin Blue
 

Hi guys

Let me start by saying what a great forum where we can air our annoyances and whinge about things that only cabin crew can relate too!

My whinge:

Does anyone here work for DJ, and find the jokes that are made over the PA slightly annoying?

Why are there still those CS that insist on making jokes over the PAs? I find them really irriatating, and reflect on me as someone trying to come across in a professional manner. I was under the impression that we were trying to capture the business market.

Would love to hear from fellow DJ crew, or even people who have flown DJ, on their thoughts of the so called 'jokes'.

Am I just being a PPrude?

Westaff - Sydney
 

Hei Guys

I would not recommend Westaff in Sydney - very poor customer service skills - suprised Virgin Blue has choosen them as their reps for recruitment of staff!

who and what are they? i tried looking on google but only got some american site..

They are an agency that Virgin Blue use to recruit ground staff. Many of the ground staff employed are not actually employed by Virgin Blue, they are employed by Westaff. Melbourne ground crew use them also. I think after you prove to be a hard worker/team player, you then get offered a full time position with Virgin.

Its kind of like the Qantas/MAM thing, you wear the uniform but are not actually employed by the airline.

At least that is my understanding of it.

Recruitment agency in Sydney Westaff - Does not match the customer service that VB offers.....:rolleyes: suprised why they recruit VB staff from there?

I don't work in the industry but I fly DJ (aka V Blue) a lot,and yes the jokes are annoying,especially when they are old,bad jokes when I'm trying to catch up on paperwork etc,but what really annoys me is the music played way too loud on boarding!
On one trip last year it was so loud I had to ask the F/A to turn it down ,she did so,reluctantly I thought,I even considered never flying with them again but have relented after writing to the head office and receiving a polite reply and a promise to examine the issue.

I guess hiring from agencies works out cheaper, not having to pay holidays/staff travel etc.

For the record, I have never had any dealings with them as I am crew, but here is their website: http://www.westaff.com.au/index.html

Might be a good step into the industry and company.

NIGELINOZ, maybe you could write to management about the PAs. Wink wink.

Hi there,
Thanks for the posting about Weststaff. I actually applied and was invited to an interview for next week, I'm still working so I can't take time off to go. Having said that, on another posting a long time ago I'm sure I read that the conditions weren't so great? I spoke to a guy there and he said you'd have to pay something like $150 for the medical, $175 for the ASIC card and around $300 would be deducted from your wages for the uniform (you can buy 2nd hand uniforms too if you so desire:E )
Does anyone out there work for them currently, what's it REALLY like?:hmm:

Hi exmax

I am actually crew, so I cant tell you about working conditions.

However, I think it would be a good way to get into Virgin, if you can stick it out for a few months until DJ offer you a permanent posy with them.

And I wouldnt even be able to tell you which of the Melbourne crew are employed by Virgin, and which are westaff. Same as Sydney crew. Everyone works together as a team.

As for forking out the dough for the ASIC and medicals, years ago I had to do the same for Qantas, so this doesnt strike me as unusual. I think it is worth it if you really want the job.

We think if you wear the VB uniform U must represent the company to same standart as VB ? Right ? regardless if you work for VB or Westaff:)

By the way are the VB cabin crew on U Tube and My space employed by Westaff Sydney as well ? :) :rolleyes:

That is exactly right. It doesnt matter who pays your wages, if you are wearing the uniform, you represent the company.

Can I ask what exactly it is that Westaff have done in order for you to post in the first place?

Hi crewbus,
Thanks for the response, I've been here for 3years and only just got my perm residency, so I'm really looking to get back into flying again. A very good friend of mine is a CS based out of BNE, so I get to hear about conditions as crew:)
Still getting my head around the concept of paying for medicals etc as it wasn't something I did back home. Anyway, I'm sure if it's meant to be, it'll happen, working on the ground or flying or even both:ok:

How long would it take to get a perm possition with DJ?

Exmax, try registering for Crew and Ground Services on the actual Virgin blue website also. They are not recruiting at the moment, but will keep your details on file until something comes up.

Goodluck with the interview, let us know how you go.

really? im not crew, but i like it when they played music on boarding... kept me entertained...

Well since we work for a different airline we think someone should complain to management about the "Music" on board .... wink wink

Skycrewhosties, what do you mean? The dodgy boarding on DJ? What about the even dodgier jokes? :)

I have no problem with playing music at a reasonable volume,but on this particular flight it was like walking into a night club.(ok maybe thats an exaggeration) but it was very loud and I was not the only pax to complain.

Fair enough NIGELINOZ. Sometimes it is too loud.

In most cases I dont think the crew mind turning the music down. If only they would turn down the jokes...

Crewbus what do you mean during boarding ? pls explain about the dodgy jokes? :rolleyes:

ahh ok.. fair enough that you ask it to be turned down then

Hi skycrewhosties

Sorry, what I meant was the dodgy boarding music. I wanted to know what you meant about writing to management about it...

As for the dodgy jokes, have you flown with DJ before? Hopefully if you have, it was an incident free flight with friendly service. Unfortunately, there are some supersvisors who figure that because they failed as a comedian in the real world, they think that it would be funny to make their jokes over the PA system on the aircraft, I suspect because no one can walk off and they are stuck listening :)

For example:

(During the safety demo) There are 100s of ways to leave your lover, but only 8 ways to leave this aircraft...
(After landing) Keep your seatbelt fastened, because landing into someones lap isnt the best way to meet someone, that is what the internet is for, isnt that right ......(the crew member seated next to them)

Hope this clarifies.

Crewbus please clarify - be more specifc:)

What happened to the profesional and pleasent standart set by VB? :rolleyes: Westaff???

it depends on the joke and how often you hear it, as an adelaide girl I hear "wind your clock back 30 years" every flight, however when I was in Sydney coming back to adelaide as a pax a few years ago, over the boarding announcement in the terminal they said "as this is a nearly empty flight could all passengers please sit near the window when we taxi past the qantas plane so they think we're full"
which did get a giggle out of me

I am still not sure what youare talking about??

Why "silly" jokes??:=

Sorry to go slightly off thread but I did want to say that I flew with V Blue about 20 times in 2006 and the incident I mentioned was the only one I can recall where I had a "bad" experience and even then it was a pretty minor issue,I only wrote to the management about it as i thought they might appreciate some passenger feedback,in the letter I also complimented them on their customer service,value for money etc.
I have found just about 100% of V Blue staff to be friendly,professional and good at their jobs.
(And the girls are pretty good looking!)
Seriously though,long live Virgin Blue.:ok:

We agree with you!, we have to say there is a nice cabin crew working for VB ;) , .........., !!

It's all about timing
 

I flew with Virgin to BNE and back (from SYD) last week.

On the way to BNE, a weekday (early) morning flight, the only joke I noticed was something along the lines of "It's certainly been your pleasure having us on board...". This was so subtle I don't think anyone actually got it. I don't know whether the crew purposefully toned down the jokes because of the time of day/passenger profile/fatigue, etc.

On the way back, a Saturday afternoon flight, the Cabin Manager made a fair few jokes that were actually quite amusing. Apart from the same "your pleasure...us on board" joke (which again, no-one seemed to get), included in his repertoire was this genuinely funny joke...

"Cabin crew, please be seated and hold hands for take-off...[perfectly timed pause] Ahh, Cabin Crew X [the previously introduced ccm seated on the same jumpseat as the CM], that's not my hand!"

Maybe you had to be there, but his humour seemed to be appreciated by a large portion of people on board.

Basically, i think that jokes are appropriate depending on the types of passengers. Really, it should be up to the crew to decide whether (and what type of) jokes are appropriate for each particular flight. However, I can absolutely see how it could be very annoying to hear the same jokes repeatedly if you frequently flew DJ.

Maybe you could introduce a joke quota, with each Cabin Manager given a maximum number of jokes per service and each joke can only be used a certain number of times before it must be retired??? Joking, BTW. Boom-tish!

Hei Folks
 

Well Folks Have a gooood Weekend!

And I hope U appreciate my opinion about "loud music"..... :)

Thanks crewbus - I'm registered with cabincrew.staff - thing is I'm not sure if I'm ready to move from Sydney.

Skycrewhosties, I think we are on a different page.

Maybe you are one of those CSs I am referring who doesn't realise the jokes they tell are not all that funny. Then again maybe not, with your odd attitude towards Westaff.

Keep the opinions coming guys, like I said, maybe I am out on my own in thinking these jokes bring the airline down. Especially on a Melbourne - Sydney 6.00am....