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Nobody mentioned this.................
Lufthansa Improves Pay Offer in Dispute With Workers (Update2)
By Chris Reiter
July 9 (Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe's second-biggest airline, offered German baggage handlers and cabin crews 6.7 percent more pay, a week after the employees staged a strike that led to at least 44 flight cancellations.
Lufthansa sweetened its earlier offer from a 5.5 percent raise in two steps during talks with labor union Ver.di, said Claudia Lange, a Frankfurt-based spokeswoman for the airline. The new proposal includes a one-time bonus equivalent to 1 percent of their annual salary and would cover 21 months, compared with 18 months for the initial offer, she said..................
By Chris Reiter
July 9 (Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe's second-biggest airline, offered German baggage handlers and cabin crews 6.7 percent more pay, a week after the employees staged a strike that led to at least 44 flight cancellations.
Lufthansa sweetened its earlier offer from a 5.5 percent raise in two steps during talks with labor union Ver.di, said Claudia Lange, a Frankfurt-based spokeswoman for the airline. The new proposal includes a one-time bonus equivalent to 1 percent of their annual salary and would cover 21 months, compared with 18 months for the initial offer, she said..................
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re: division 1's post #3614
I'm reliably informed that Air NZ's Heavy Maintenance division have recently signed off on a 4.5% per annum deal with NO trade offs...apparently it had something to do with the ongoing problems Air NZ were having with recruiting/retaining staff. sound familiar?
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Excellent post Konehead BUT we must get that message OUT to the PUBLIC it is of no use for us commited to see it only. Please this is great but how do WE get it onto the PUBLIC forum for all to read and understand? once again great post.
Moderator
This thread 271,778 views - that is not getting the message out to the public? 
You may be very surprised at the people that read PPRuNe?
You may be very surprised at the people that read PPRuNe?
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To Fed Sec - Still Waiting For Reply To Below
......
"In other news we have been informed that all Qantas management strike breakers have been added to a list held by MAS management for those engineers that are "unemployable". Their names sit next to the Newport strike breakers pilfered from Malaysia."
Fed Sec Can you elaborate on above?
Do you endorse these actions? your post could be interpreted as influencing Freedom of association.
How do you justify your comments?
What lists have been given to MAS, and by who?
You have some knowledge of this, can you enlighten us all?
FED SEC should ne banned....gooooone , given the current environment i think you are sailing close to the wind.
I suppose the Ombudsman will decide, i look foward to your response
"In other news we have been informed that all Qantas management strike breakers have been added to a list held by MAS management for those engineers that are "unemployable". Their names sit next to the Newport strike breakers pilfered from Malaysia."
Fed Sec Can you elaborate on above?
Do you endorse these actions? your post could be interpreted as influencing Freedom of association.
How do you justify your comments?
What lists have been given to MAS, and by who?
You have some knowledge of this, can you enlighten us all?
FED SEC should ne banned....gooooone , given the current environment i think you are sailing close to the wind.
I suppose the Ombudsman will decide, i look foward to your response
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Yes Konehead. One very important point I am reminded of from your post; most of us are working three times harder than we were 5 years ago. That is 3 times the output and efficiency. And those people being rewarded for your hard work and efforts are management, not us. All we have received is an average of 1.7%pa for the last 10 years, and absolutely zip for the last 2 & 1/2 years.
All we are asking for is a fair outcome so we can afford to keep pace with the rising costs of living for the last few years.
All we are asking for is a fair outcome so we can afford to keep pace with the rising costs of living for the last few years.
Nunc est bibendum
Someone is getting the word out....
Konehead's letter came through to my Facebook profile. I duly forwarded it on to all of my 'friends'. I don't have many friends so it won't spread the word too far but I hope it helps! 
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KH, great post. afew minor edits/additions as suggested by a few posts above and it would be a brilliant press release.
p.s. QF11 due depart last friday managed to leave last night, 4 minutes before curfew, only 4 and a half days late
p.s. QF11 due depart last friday managed to leave last night, 4 minutes before curfew, only 4 and a half days late
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A certain someone from a certain paper has suggested to another certain someone that thay are interested in publishing Koneheads letter along with the handout that QF are giving pax. Can anyone post it in this thread? or email it to me. PM me for email to send to...
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I like it KH. Can we use it at all?
Be my guest. I've made a few changes as suggested. I've copied and pasted it here with the suggested changes italicised. Thanks to all those who've made suggestions and for your support and encouragement.
MAINTAIN THE RAGE.
Anyone flying Qantas recently would have a good chance of suffering delays and cancellations. I would like to apologise on behalf of the engineers for the delays caused by our “go slow campaign”, but I can’t. Because it is not true. I can however, apologise on behalf of Qantas for the lies of a few who slander the 1,500 engineers who have been working harder than they ever have to keep aircraft flying safely.
Someone in Qantas management has authorised the distribution of letters and notes to affected passengers accusing us of a “go slow campaign”. The truth is that we are not working overtime on our days off, and we are fully complying with the policies and procedures written by Qantas Engineering management, which actually adds to our workload.
Unfortunately, Qantas Engineering has become overstretched. The last few years has seen the closure of Sydney Heavy Maintenance and the slow bleed of highly trained engineers through numerous rounds of redundancies, leaving Qantas Engineering with about 20% fewer engineers. Yet in the same time the fleet has expanded by about 20% - a clearly massive increase in productivity per engineer. Yet the current Qantas Engineering management (many of whom have no prior aircraft engineering or aviation management background) have introduced new policies and procedures that make it increasingly difficult to do our core job of fixing aircraft in a timely manner.
There have been repeated changes in organisational structure; a sharp decline in the number of spare parts held and an inadequate distribution of the remaining spare parts; outsourcing of numerous component repair functions that were once done in-house to unmatched standards of both turnover time, quality and reliability; a proliferation of lower and middle management roles; more engineers involved in “special projects” and other frivolous and unnecessary tasks rather than actually working on aircraft… the list goes on.
Over the years our productivity has increased despite these new policies and procedures. This is because in the past we worked around, massaged, bent and stretched them and sometimes outright ignored the sillier ones. We made do with the little we had left. We worked overtime on our days off and after our shift ended, and worked through our meal-breaks. We risked dismissal for violating company policies and procedures as we worked around the shortages of equipment caused by constant cost-cutting and the failures, impracticality and lack of common sense inherent in those policies and procedures. Why? To get the job done, because that’s what engineers do. It’s in our blood. We have made many representations to management in order to streamline the processes but they have not been implemented because the ideas are not their own. Decades of experience in the industry are systematically ignored by inexperienced managers.
And then there is the issue of training. We know all about Office Ergonomics, Diversity, Hearing Conservation and Fatigue Management. We have seen every tier of management and supervision pass through leadership training at a forest retreat at a cost of thousands per head, only to see the managers ignore everything they've learned and particiapate in a "buggery campaign" against the people they are supposed to lead. But the really important stuff has been lacking the last couple of years. Like being trained on the aircraft types in the fleet that we're supposed to work on, approvals for running the engines, tug-driving, operating heavy equipment, first aid and fuel tank entry to name a few. We're now in the ridiculous situation of not actually having the trained people to do the job we're there to do. Over $300 million has supposedly been invested in Qantas Engineering, but little of it has reached where it is needed.
The Sydney Heavy Maintenance engineers were promised that when the Avalon (Victoria) Heavy Maintenance facility opened, only “overflow” work would be sent to Avalon. Then they closed Sydney Heavy maintenance. We were assured that when Sydney Heavy Maintenance was closed down, only 5% of heavy maintenance would be outsourced offshore. Well now it’s running at over 20%, with aircraft being sent to Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, New Zealand and the USA for critical maintenance and still requiring work to be finished or redone when they arrive back in Australia.
The company has been crying poor since the Asian Economic Crisis, when we accepted a lower than standard pay-rise. We accepted a 30 month pay freeze after September 11 and the SARS outbreak. At the time we were promised to be "looked after when times were good again." Then came bird-flu. Now it’s “fuel prices”. Now, we haven’t received a pay increase since January 2006. Our enterprise bargaining agreement has been under negotiation for over 18 months! This equates to a 1.7% per annum pay-rise over the last 10 years. That is a long-term decline in anyone’s language, considering the RBA’s “target band” for CPI is 2% - 3%. All the while, Qantas profits have increased and management have received obscene pay-rises and bonuses off the backs of our sacrifices, losses of terms & conditions and hard work. Just how good does it need to get before we're "looked after"?
We are now insensitive to the years of threats to outsource maintenance overseas, because it’s already happened by stealth - and the process continues at an increasing rate, with the lapses in quality regularly making the news! We now choose not to work on our days off. We now choose to work strictly within the company policies and procedures, no matter how stupid, short-sighted, time-consuming, impractical, restrictive and inefficient.
Why? We have been abused for doing our jobs to the utmost whilst at work and refusing to work on our days off; we have been unable to take leave for months; we have been insulted with an inadequate pay offer; we have been lied to and threatened over outsourcing; and our improved efficiencies and attempts to further improve them have been ignored. We are tired of being under-trained, under-equipped and under-resourced, and yet we're still expected to work miracles daily by a disengaged yet desperate management. Our families suffer our absences through long nights and weekends, school holidays and public holidays, but they accepted it as par for the course. Now they suffer more hardship as the bread-winners' work-loads, stresses and pressures build, leave is cancelled or denied, fatigue mounts and prices rise. Unfortunately, most of us are NOT earning $130,000 per year as claimed by our CEO. Since January 2006, CPI has risen over 4.2%. Cheaper imports and a stronger dollar have masked the real inflation in the essentials of life, like food and mortgages. All we want is respect, and a fair pay-rise that reflects a community standard of well above 3%. Qantas sells itself as the Spirit of Australia, yet there is a telling absence of that most Australian spirit, the spirit of the fair go.
Next time you fly Qantas and your flight is delayed and you receive a note accusing us of “industrial action and a go slow campaign”, please keep the facts in mind.
Regards and apologies for the rant. I feel a lot better now! J
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Great work Konehead.
If just one passenger per delayed aircraft received a copy of this and then passed it to those in front, behind, or next to them, especially on a 13 hr flt .......hmmmm.But beware, I'm sure the stormtroopers are already mobilising to the battlements.
If just one passenger per delayed aircraft received a copy of this and then passed it to those in front, behind, or next to them, especially on a 13 hr flt .......hmmmm.But beware, I'm sure the stormtroopers are already mobilising to the battlements.
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Very well said Konehead. Congratulations !!
Hi Guys,,
While Heavy Maintenance has limited and only long term impact in this PIA
I think it’s safe to say that each and every Lame monitors and fully supports the current campaign for a fair pay rise and if we’re lucky, maybe even a little respect from a pack of greedy self serving manages.
There has always been a feeling in Heavy Maint that it is often overlooked in the bigger picture by the majority of engineering due to ACS generally enjoying the spotlight and being in the front line. However we also are suffering at the hands of Management that grossly neglect our needs and concerns.
Koneheads recent post was excellent and has moved me to add a little from a H/M
Perspective.
We have been constantly harassed and bullied by managers in the lead up to EBA’s that have no problem ignoring their own policies.
We voted in favour of our last EBA (3%) with the threat that if we did not we could loose the right to maintain our fleet of 737-800’s amongst other things.
It was hammered into us.
Also after using second rate and substandard docking (Scaffolding ) to overhaul our -800,s for several years now, we are told that new and permanent docking will depend on the outcome of this EBA. ( Clearly another threat )
A sharp decline in recent years of engineers ( both ame’s and lame’s ) has put the
remaining workforce under enormous pressure.
At present we are all stretched very thin across numerous aircraft in H/M
Priorities are changing on a daily basis and engineers find themselves being
pushed from one aircraft to another.
While endeavouring to carry out SC 2’s and HM 1 checks etc, jumping from one aircraft to another is very stressful to say the least.
Trying to pickup an entire zone and run with it when the aircraft is in a thousand pieces
and continue the check after many other guys before you have had a finger in the pie for
a short time, is very difficult for obvious reasons.
Trying at all times to stay compliant in these circumstances is a challenge.
One good example of this is the replacement and rigging of the Trailing edge Flaps a little while ago on a 737-400. We were asked to complete the rigging and carry out the required functional checks and independent inspections. Up until this point we had no involvement in this job, but now had to carry on despite the fact that no less than 13 different Lame signatures already appeared on the paperwork (not to mention the number of ame signatures). This is a less than ideal situation that has the potential for serious errors.
It has become almost a daily occurrence for us to pick up a huge pile of paper work and jobs that are half done, (with which we have had little or no previous input.) We need to be constantly vigilant to ensure that nothing has been missed or overlooked.
The pressure for us to succeed, to keep our jobs and to try and limit the amount of outsourcing with the hope of securing our long term employment with diminishing resources is evident everyday
We are also hampered by QF policies and procedures, and while some of which help and even keep us safe on the job, the majority just seem to increase our workload, create enormous frustration and only serves to slow productivity and efficiencies, which is strange, given that QF is always demanding the opposite.
Finally,,,, Many of the changes that have contributed to the successes in Heavy Maint in recent years have come from those within the department,,,, not it would seem from those manages earning the big bucks.
The above is all just the tip of a very large iceberg. I could go on forever,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
As we all know……. Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, and Intimidation is not only alive and well at QF, it is deeply ingrained in Managements culture of dealing with its workforce.
Win or loose here Guys, At least we can hold our heads up and know that we have conducted ourselves with decency and fairness on our side.
While Heavy Maintenance has limited and only long term impact in this PIA
I think it’s safe to say that each and every Lame monitors and fully supports the current campaign for a fair pay rise and if we’re lucky, maybe even a little respect from a pack of greedy self serving manages.
There has always been a feeling in Heavy Maint that it is often overlooked in the bigger picture by the majority of engineering due to ACS generally enjoying the spotlight and being in the front line. However we also are suffering at the hands of Management that grossly neglect our needs and concerns.
Koneheads recent post was excellent and has moved me to add a little from a H/M
Perspective.
We have been constantly harassed and bullied by managers in the lead up to EBA’s that have no problem ignoring their own policies.
We voted in favour of our last EBA (3%) with the threat that if we did not we could loose the right to maintain our fleet of 737-800’s amongst other things.
It was hammered into us.
Also after using second rate and substandard docking (Scaffolding ) to overhaul our -800,s for several years now, we are told that new and permanent docking will depend on the outcome of this EBA. ( Clearly another threat )
A sharp decline in recent years of engineers ( both ame’s and lame’s ) has put the
remaining workforce under enormous pressure.
At present we are all stretched very thin across numerous aircraft in H/M
Priorities are changing on a daily basis and engineers find themselves being
pushed from one aircraft to another.
While endeavouring to carry out SC 2’s and HM 1 checks etc, jumping from one aircraft to another is very stressful to say the least.
Trying to pickup an entire zone and run with it when the aircraft is in a thousand pieces
and continue the check after many other guys before you have had a finger in the pie for
a short time, is very difficult for obvious reasons.
Trying at all times to stay compliant in these circumstances is a challenge.
One good example of this is the replacement and rigging of the Trailing edge Flaps a little while ago on a 737-400. We were asked to complete the rigging and carry out the required functional checks and independent inspections. Up until this point we had no involvement in this job, but now had to carry on despite the fact that no less than 13 different Lame signatures already appeared on the paperwork (not to mention the number of ame signatures). This is a less than ideal situation that has the potential for serious errors.
It has become almost a daily occurrence for us to pick up a huge pile of paper work and jobs that are half done, (with which we have had little or no previous input.) We need to be constantly vigilant to ensure that nothing has been missed or overlooked.
The pressure for us to succeed, to keep our jobs and to try and limit the amount of outsourcing with the hope of securing our long term employment with diminishing resources is evident everyday
We are also hampered by QF policies and procedures, and while some of which help and even keep us safe on the job, the majority just seem to increase our workload, create enormous frustration and only serves to slow productivity and efficiencies, which is strange, given that QF is always demanding the opposite.
Finally,,,, Many of the changes that have contributed to the successes in Heavy Maint in recent years have come from those within the department,,,, not it would seem from those manages earning the big bucks.
The above is all just the tip of a very large iceberg. I could go on forever,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
As we all know……. Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, and Intimidation is not only alive and well at QF, it is deeply ingrained in Managements culture of dealing with its workforce.
Win or loose here Guys, At least we can hold our heads up and know that we have conducted ourselves with decency and fairness on our side.
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KH mate, you have brought together everything I and my workmates have felt, thought and said to a hostile management over years of pain;
well done!!
I will be utilising this on the next shift
- lets get it out there FedSEc!!
well done!!
I will be utilising this on the next shift
- lets get it out there FedSEc!!