reform
 

:) Dig up "Lobster Bob" a MAN to be respected and feared. He was fooled by no one. :eek: :D

The A Team
 

Neville Usher,Judy Cross,Pat Gregory, Angus Gillespie and Pally Nolan.
Come back please...we need you.

Cabin Services Department = Overbloated
 

The Black Widow and The Bulldog have created the most absurd Cabin Services department....with ridiculous titles such as : "Manager Customer Services Safety and Environment" and "Manager Service Development" and "Service Standards Manager" and "Customer Experience Delivery". What a laughing stock this is. Each manager has decided to create a title for themselves and in order to justify their existence, they each battle to have something published in CCN or memo...it can be anything immaterial or pathetic like "tortoise-shell hair clips" or "exploding bodum plungers" or "placement of oneworld badge". Each of the (female) managers battle with each other to see who can quote relevant CCOM references and who can come up with the best "I know its not standard but......"

Mindless Irrelevant Trivia
 

They focus on this stuff because its what they are good at.
Actually running a creative engaging Cabin Services Dept. is way beyond them.
Clause 11s are designed to keep eveyone off balance.Instead it just disengages everyone.Adults dont require this type of punishment.Its the mindless discipline that old fashioned teachers use to mete out to five year olds.It didnt work then either.
Can you imagine what management meetings are like?
A botox tupperware party.

Domestos and Bad Hat Harry I totally agree with you.
Unfortunately the toxin that these people have spread has paralysed what was once one of the best cabin crew services of the world .
Sadly it is only a shadow of it's former self and in my humble opinion almost in terminal decline.
I don't know if there is any individual who can resusitate,restore,inspire and re-engage the hearts and minds of the crew.
Through the grapevine the feedback about the Centre of Excellence has been overall negative. Those of us that have been around long enough to have gone through and been indocrinated with similar experiences will realise just how out of touch Management is and how this $10,000,000
has been wasted. It could have been better used by improving the hard product.
Makes you think that someones son or nephew won the contract to renovate the old building, how else could you justify the expense of this white elephant?
I seem to recall that the managers were told by Alan Joyce that they would have to spend 1 day a month working along side by side with their colleagues at the coalface.
Has anyone from any department seen any of the team managers out there yet?
Perhaps they are creating a new position, I know how about "Manager responsible for placing and rostering Cabin Crew Team Managers at front line positions".
There was someone who was listing down the names and title of everyone who was published in the Cabin Crew News, those who made it on his list had to have the title of Manager with a ridiculous title.
He stopped counting when he reached 40.
The Black Widow has had her day,get rid of her and her band of cronies. She should have gone with Dixon.

Centre of Excellence...

The only reason that we have this is so that the company is seen to be complying with government training rules. Every company has to invest a certain amount each year, on each person, for training. I think, 2% of your salary must be spent.

Agism and Sexism
 

Unfortunately agism and sexism are part of the problem at Qantas Cabin Services.
AW is reknowned for witholding information from LG.Seems there is, shall we say, a personality clash.
Both of these people have surrounded themselves with compliant incompetents.This situation is a remnant from the Dixon days and needs to be sorted and quickly.
The rumours persist that LG has gone and AW is on her way back to Airports.
Bring in some young fresh competent people.A mix of male/female would be appropriate
Allowing input from CC would go a long to re engaging the workforce

The biggest problem from my perspective is the way in which pertinent information about product and system failures is withheld from very senior management and in particular the board.

I am sure they are not interested in special meals failing to get to the customers but the nature of systemic failures that occur on a regular basis because the corridor crawlers are out of their depth with rank incompetence is disgraceful.

There are some in management that are hindered by the nincompoops below them who fail every reasonable task assigned to them and the protected species who seem to be able to do nothing wrong and have huge budgets to blow on lunches to launch the new napkin etc

what is
 

the union--you peggy doing about it??????????:eek::oh:

At my "Exceptional" day the first selected component never showed up. Of course we didn't find this out until the other subjects had started so it was too late to join in something else.

In all my years of flying I have never been late or missed a sign-on, it's just not done. Would it have been too hard for the instructor to call earlier so that we could have joined another group. I enjoyed the extra 30 minutes for morning tea but seriously what message are they trying to send out?

On the most part I enjoyed the day, but could have done without the usual "mind mapping" and "finding the real problem" garbage. Usually if my pax tell me they have a problem, what they are telling me IS the problem. I dont need to analyse it for an hour and get back to them to discuss what lead to the problem, I just fix it, that's my job! :ugh:

At Virgin Atlantic....their policy is staff first before customers.....they believe if they look after their own people before anyone else, then automatically, the staff will look after the customers. Unfortunately for The Flying Rat...they've got it ALL WRONG.....they have spent millions on a Warehouse of Excellence that focuses on looking after customers....fullstop....and have spent nothing on engaging the loyalties of its own people. No amount of eXceptional training will change our disloyalty to the company....do you really think you will squeeze out excellence from your people after you've already beat them with a stick and treated them like 5 year olds?????

Nah...you can keep your eXceptional day....I'd rather do something more productive and take the day off work to pick the lint out of my belly button. Until the company pays me an 'eXceptional allowance or DTA' (tax free), I'm only gonna do what the company has paid me to do...push carts, serve meals, arm doors....nothing more, nothing less. If you want more out of me....then PAY ME....otherwise, shut up with your eXceptional day and don't waste both our times.....

Firstly,I think it's interesting that someone in the union is speaking on behalf of the management.

Secondly,I think the wish or statement that the crew member will be replaced once this down turn is over is optimistic to say the least.You might also notice the phrase "We will be in a position to replacing the crew member"
Who is taking that person off the complement,the union or the company and ergo who will be replacing them?
The last time a crew member was taken away they were never replaced even with the record profits achieved.Again the person that suffers is the customer.
Here is a chance to gain market share and differentiate ourselves from other airlines and we are doing the same as everyone else,cutting back.
It's good in these times to see a sense of humour still exists.
originally posted by twiggs
Absolutely hysterical twiggs,

Qantas Unions United
 

An open letter from Qantas Unions to the Qantas board in one of the broadsheets may have some impact.
The letter should detail the problems at QF from an employee perspective.
In the past information and concerns have not made their way to the board.
Circumvent middle management

Guys , just to satisfy a hunch- is the black widow ex ansett???

I think she is ex AN who became NZ and now QF

Black Widows Progression
 

Air NZ to AN to QF...her rise our downfall.
She is Kiwi

Thanks, I had an inkling it might have been the person I thought it was. I feel sorry for you - I just don't get how incompetence can lead to such a career path.

This type of person is only good for bluffing their way through a target selection style interview- largely as they used to sit on the ask questions side of the table.

As managers they are useless as ashtrays on motorbikes except for having the uncanny ability to avoid getting the sack- usually achieved by white anting someone else.

Cheers, I'm off to work.

that certainly would have some impact
 

AlphaLord says:"

Qantas Unions United

An open letter from Qantas Unions to the Qantas board in one of the broadsheets may have some impact.

resident union guys take note!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

Bye Bye Blackberry
 

LG has just killed the blackberry project.

Didn't even make it to "main release"

Twiggs,heres an idea that you can float around the office.
Your idea of a reward made me think about how the airline is run.If the office thinks a letter is a good reward then how about when managers in the office do a good job they get a letter in their file instead of a cash bonus.

Black Widow MIA
 

The Black Widow is no longer on the Corporate Website and no longer on the CC website.
Perhaps the canning of the "prune" was a last parting gift as she exited the front door never to return?

need some more info
 

it looks like the blackberry project has been put on hold.someone knows any details???:ok:

Qantas entered into a contract with Telstra to provide data and communications services. The company wants to break the contract because Telstra are not providing services as per agreement...hence the Blackberrys are being halted as they are provided by Telstra.

Why The Spin?
 

Why do management continue with spin?If something is not working admit it and fix it.
Two weeks ago we were told that the raspberry was an outstanding success.
To anyone who uses it it was an obvious failure.
Telling the truth always wins respect.
The first rule of customer service...always admit to a service failure.
Second rule...fix it.

It might have been that it satisfied the main criteria of being the cheapest one they could get or with the biggest discount .
In the end,the cost can only get you so far if it doesn't do the job.

Incompetent Partnership
 

Two more incompetent companies in league with each other is unimaginable.

Get on board managers
 

I have recently have the opportunity to travel on Qantas both domestic and international. I can only say that I experienced exceptional service. I think it is about time that cabin crew managers and other mangers go out, get on board and work a sector or two. See what your crew have to do, get a hands on experience, crew are dealing with what 300 + pax on an aircraft . Go managers get on board, put the uniform on and see what it is all about, you never know sitting in your office!!!

Spreading The Joy
 

Interesting to note the number of CC with 20 years plus seniority who have had JNB appear ontheir rosters for BP 263.
All this does is increase the amount of sick leave.
Oh Well.....Mobile phones are cheap there

The Claytons Bid System
 

Its all down to the whim of the scheduling clerk.Whether or not they are having a bad day;how much training they have had;maybe they just dont like your tone of voice.
They do have favourites who get what they want.The system is only as good as the people administering it.If the system worked the way it was supposed to and not tinkered with sick leave would be reduced enormously

Isn't open time awarded in reverse seniority?

Open Time..A lottery
 

Open Time is a bit of a wishing well.There are a number of factors determining who gets what.
Low liners and those who are pay protected are first cab off the rank.Bidding up in hours helps.Bidding with no trade also helps.Overprojection of hours is also considered. Availability of reserve line holders is another factor.Seniority then kicks in.
Basically its a lottery with the O/T officer deciding who is the lucky winner

Defcon4 has explained it well, but why don't you go and ask the scheduler that told you that:
because not everything is as it seems and the only way you could know that anything you just stated is fact, is if a scheduler told you.

By the way Argusmoon, why do you also have a username Argus.moon, or is one of you an imposter?

Open Time Allocations
 

That's the problem with a system where things aren't transparent or accountable: it is open to manipulation or at least the perception that manipulation is occurring.

Have you tried calling ops to see under which subclause of EBA8 Clause 33.6 this person got the trip? It's interesting to look at this clause anyway, for example does everyone know that a trip from normal closure of open time MUST be assigned to an available RLH in category (33.6.7) and then an available RLH out of category (33.6.8) before it can be assigned to a pay-protected flight attendant (33.6.9)?

If you don't question ops then, unless the FAAA is auditing each open time allocation, there is only the individual's integrity to make them stick to the rules.

Clause 33.11 says that nothing in the clause precludes the correction of an error by the company.

Errors can occur from time to time. If they have made an error in allocation they can correct it.

obira

RLH bidding in Open Time
 

Obira you raise some interesting points.
Having often tried to bid in O/T as a RLH I would have more chance of getting a date with Elle Mcpherson than getting awarded a trip that I have bid for.
Challenging a scheduling clerk usually gets a terse response.They tend to think that they are a law unto themselves.
Save aggrivation and apply a PRO usually solves all problems.The system actually encourages PROs.It it was more transparent sick leave would go down.OPs havent figured that out yet.No one has a user manual regarding this 20 year old system.Very few have ever been trained in its use.There are a couple of crew who were Work Systems Advisors(or something like that)who are only too happy to help out.One of them certainly made a difference to my bidding .
Its still a mystery to many.The company likes to keep it that way

A number of years ago and I was near the base late at night and thought I'd see if I had jagged a trip out of open time.
Just as I got to the counter there was another crew person handing over a nice bottle of Walking Johnny straight out of a duty free bag.You might have guessed it and that's right I didn't get the trip so I inquired as to whether a bottle of duty free helped in any way with the success of your bid.
There was no verbal response just a look of intense displeasure.

We all know there are friends of friends and that will never stop but if I'm right the tech crew can ask and have to be told who got the trip in open time and why.

If there is a transparency in the way something works then there are no arguments but something tells me that this will never happen here.
Posted by twiggswell twiggs you said it but strange as it may seem some of us do know people in the office and have been told the story but it doesn't help you to know the truth.
The people in the office do not like any of us knowing what really happens and that will never change.
Funny that you should be asking that question twiggs and what does it have to do with the open time bidding?.
Is someone in the office upset that someone is questioning them?

junglejuice.

You are quite correct.

In long haul, there is a strict open time allocation procedure which must be followed for the award of a trip (a strict order of allocation).

This must be adhered to. You can ring up and ask for reasons why you weren't awarded the trip. The answer will have everything to do with your priority in the allocation process. For example, pattern protection having priority over a trade, which has priority over a reserve line holder etc. It is all now very transparent.

Posted by funbagsCan someone from our union who posts here regularly explain why this is the case with the pilots but not the cabin crew?
It's the same airline and if the pilots can have this why can't we?
You would think that if this was the case then the level of sick leave would drop significantly and you would also think that the company would want this.
Why do I also get the feeling that there will be a wall of silence around this topic from the union and company reps who post here?

This week's SH 'Week That Was'
 

I am having trouble with the following item in TWTW...

So what does the above mean?! It is better that these people are recruited into QD so that there is less juniors under me in FWA? What an incredibly short sighted comment!

How will giving rosters to QD pre-FWA up to November help us at all?! :confused:

the company are required to publish the open time when closed and allocated. if you dont get something you are entitled to enquire of the open time officer why it was allocated to someone else.
if you are not satisfied and believe that the EBA has been breached you can call the union as many do.

They can speak to the Duty Manager and ask them to review the decision of the OT officer. If there is any monkey business it will become obvious.

If anyone has proof of bribery rather than anecdotal clap trap i suggest a stat dec taken to the FAAA and then it will go directly to qantas security for investigation. Just make sure you have your facts straight and some proof. Its slanderous to make false or speculatory accusations and the OT officer will have recourse if the individual is just p'ssed off and letting out some frustration.

Ot officers are required to find the best fit for OT within the constraints of the EBA, anyone can make mistakes and if you think one has been made get in quick and have the decision audited.

THere is a clause in the EBA that says an error can be corrected in relation to the allocation of open time...if you have your proof use it