No Such Thing As Crew Shortage - Only Lost Opportunities!
 

Famous words in last Crews News - by NR

Quote -NR
Today, there are only enough KA B744F crew trained and checked to the line to operate somewhere between two and three aircraft. Due to crew shortages during 2007, Dragonair has had to cancel a significant number of services, both long-haul and regional. Also the utilisation of the KA 744 freighter in 2007 has been close to half that of CX 744F.

The fourth KA B744 Freighter has recently arrived and a decision has been taken to dry-lease this aircraft to another Operator for at least 12 months. Negotiations are at an advanced stage.

Clearly with 3 KA B744 Freighters, even if they are currently undermanned, there are insufficient vacancies for all the flight crew coming off the 4 KA "Classic" Freighters over the next 12 months and so CX will offer positions to any KA crew who wishes to resign from KA and join our freighter operation as a F/O or Rapid Commander. Details of the various options were sent to KA crew earlier this week, for a reply by end February.

:ugh: Oh ****! :D

:8 I can fix this problem :cool: but not enought $ in my current account!

NR Between the lines
 

NR is getting ready for a fight..

NR & ST 18 JAN
Synopis: Basically if we take him (CX) on he'll screw our Rostering & Housing agreements towards the end of this year.

So be prepared everyone.. :eek: (hey where is everyone going?)

Yes it's going to be lost opportunies on both sides..

I hope the shareholders understand what this pissing contest is going to cost them in lost renenue to the whole network not only too India & Japan (New bilateral agreements)

& sorry NR you have to return to colombo aswell (nice try though!)

Now you begining to get the idea about responsibility & how a Cpt sweats when things fall apart..

Real professinals have big bank accounts!
Good luck old boy good luck :{
(Son no time for golf I have work to do)

I really don't like the veiled threats in the latest AOA newsletter....Let's have some open threats from NR, so we can know where we stand....

Wishful thinking? Well, if we have to surmise everything, then we'll obviously make mistakes and be complacent.

So how do we get this @#$% out in the open? Although, nothing gets pilots united like threatening the housing arrangement in Hong Kong....An open threat to this end would be reason enough to pay attention.

As per the line in my fav movie..."show me the money".

No Negotiations = more leave= canceled flights
No Housing = more leave (in a hurry) = canceled flights (lots)
No RP only FTL's = more leave = canceled flights
Another 3% increase = more leave = canceled flights
No more bases = more leave = canceled flights


Right Nick...your call which canceled flight option do you want...we have nothing else to lose you have taken everything so far!:ouch:

The tone in the AOA newsletter was nothing short of a slap in the face. As I mentioned in a previous post, we have been patient and have given much back to the company on the supposed premise of improvements in pay etc. Instead, we get insulted in the form of an imposed 3% pay rise and then told in no unceratin terms that any action will result in trouble for us. Well Nick. I have some goodwill left in my bag. I suspect that many other people do too. I think you have just made up many fence sitters' minds on what to do next with what's left of it.

I think that even Steve is at the end of his tether on this one. After such a long time trying to appease our masters, CX's aim of just delaying any meaningfull changes has become most apparent.

There's no crew shortage only lost G days and leave slots

What happens if?
 

For a renewal of the RPs or Housing agreement to occur, both sides have to agree. If either party is unhappy then the respective agreement is terminated and we revert back to policy/AFTLS.

So my question is, what do we have to give to get CX to agree to renew the housing? And apart from the obvious increase in hours for 3man what else are they going to want for our complicity on RP09?

Sometimes when faced with the choice between 'the bat' and 'the bat with vaseline' you have to wonder how we got to convincing ourselves that vaseline is a good thing!

CAD have agreed to 14hr 3man ULR ops. Once RP07 expires CX can free up over 100 FOs thanks to this change. Does anyone think that CX will not make 3man/14hr a requirement of RP09?

Hey Numero,

Is housing in our Contract or can they change it to what ever they want?
If we do not agree to new housing do we stay on current housing policy?

Rostering I can guarantee 100% they are going to do 3 man ULH. If we do not agree to it they will pull a stunt like COS08 and just abolish our current RP. Or are they in our contract?

"Oh no! Please don't throw me into that briar patch!". (With appropriate apologies to Br'er Rabbit and Tar Baby).

Even N.R. admitted " difficult recruiting environment" . He has to improve conditions, otherwise people would not only leave, but fewer would join as well. I am in favor of industrial action to speed things up, they are clearly trying to delay things in hope of time beeing on their side.

...and of course they will threaten us, what else can they do? But we now have very little left to lose, and if we don't say enough is enough now then we never will. They can threaten me all they want, I'm not afraid of people like NR and I'm quite happy to move elsewhere. I won't do a damn thing for this company over and above the minimum required. Work a G day to help out? You must be bloody kidding.
:yuk:

I've read enough views now so thought I'd add my own for a change....Fire away!

I think that he's trying to provoke industrial action of some sort now so that he's got something to blame the "missed opportunities" on. Does anyone remember how cross they were when the pilots didn't go on strike, having provoked us and leased the Chinese aircraft in advance of the event in 2001?

I say ease the pressure on slowly. Once the rest of the crew realise what's going on and stop working G's/answering the 'phone when they don't have to etc they'll feel the pressure of lost opportunities quite hard with no one to blame it on save themselves.

I counted about 15 of our aircraft parked up at the maintenance hanger a few days ago, don't tell me they were all due a service. So we're also leasing the new 400F's out and rumour has it they're desperate for crews. Given the amount of overtime I'm getting and the number of messages I encounter on my 'phone after a couple of days off, I can well believe it.

This leaves me in the unpopular minority here that thinks ST's doing an OK job given what he's got to work with. Let's sit tight and not let the company lead us up the industrial action path.

Good point you made!
 

NR has cooked his goose & will be looking for scape goats..

If everyone does the G's day thing (IA) Ind Action might not be neccesary.
He'll try his best to turn the public media & shareholders on us..

So those not doing G day thing get on board now so it can be more effective & thus maybe avoiding IA...

Hopefully potential new joiners get the message aswell..

NC - Does that mean if no neg the housing will ful back to the orginal policy. What does this mean in practical terms?

Idea's & thoughts anyone..

you cannot have official contract compliance with only 50% membership...............sorry just would not work...........we need the AoA to have 80%+ membership so encourage people to join...................I think the "be nice and smile" approach is as good as it gets for now and those amongst us who have cajone's are already into contract compliance....................show us the money.............you want results ?? give us $$$$

fight the good fight......................................

1.
This is the perfect time to get what we want from the company. Take more than our fair share so later on we can barter it for other things.

2.
Even though AOA membership is low, most pilots I know are doing contract compliance. (The non-AOA ones at least)

3.
Yes they are getting desperate for crew. So just keep up the pressure, cranking one turn at a time.

4.
The AOA president needs to be more open with members. Come on Steve tell us your thoughts? We might not unnecessarily agree with you but opening up so we can see something working behind the scenes at the AOA.

5.
Keep it civil. Nothing worse than a mud slinging match. Use a good PR company and rub shoulders with the press. CX management has to be hurting. And I always love to turn down crew control with a smile on my face.

6.
Join forces with the DPA, CPU etc. Have different councils for each company. Bigger numbers for benefits.

meow!!! grrr

From a fleet forum a few weeks ago and direct from the horses mouth that signs the "Thank you" letters.....

70 G Day callout letters signed in one month

And thats just one fleet! (albeit the biggest one).

Think of your fellow crew (and yourself).... Stop working on G days!

I can not:confused::confused::confused::confused: understand WHY anyone would work on a G day. Do you love flying those shiny new Jets that much? Don't want to stay home and enjoy your time off? I don't get it.

Money, brownie points, selfishness,money, LMF,money. When will they ever learn?
You're keeping Phil and Nick afloat you guys that say Yes and hope nobody notices.
Let's name and shame a few...................:=:ugh::D:mad:

Showed a mate of mine some of the recent "The Management" post's, kinda put a new spin on working for Cx, needless to say he will not be dropping off a cv, even after I tried to explain a lot of it was just :mad:.

He said it "posed more questions than answers...." something about better working enviroments elsewhere blah, blah, blah". So, my point is, I can't help wondering what the fall out would be if more people people got to see his posts, and consider their validity. What would it do to the pile of new joiner cv's if these posts found their way on to other Pprune forums, (or prospective applicants took the time to read the "fragrant Harbour" threads), either way,they don't inspire much confidence.

Missed opportunities or just mis-management?