North Sea strike?
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 157
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From: stateside
Well since people are resorting to name calling (that's you TU154) it's time for some tough love...
I can tell you one of the real problems is pilot duty time, requiring more and more pilots, but the offshore guys won't like hearing that.
The duty time rules are written by pilots for pilots but it just jacks up the number of highly paid pilots in the company so at the first sign of a slump the pilots become great ways to save money.
All I hear is "we want more money and less duty time. "
Add to that the militant unions and you have a spoilt brat mentality, which is what the North Sea is famous for..
Do you really think there will be helicopters grounded for lack of pilots to fly them?
No, meaning there were too many pilots to start with.
Duh..
I can tell you one of the real problems is pilot duty time, requiring more and more pilots, but the offshore guys won't like hearing that.
The duty time rules are written by pilots for pilots but it just jacks up the number of highly paid pilots in the company so at the first sign of a slump the pilots become great ways to save money.
All I hear is "we want more money and less duty time. "
Add to that the militant unions and you have a spoilt brat mentality, which is what the North Sea is famous for..
Do you really think there will be helicopters grounded for lack of pilots to fly them?
No, meaning there were too many pilots to start with.
Duh..
Joined: Jan 2012
Aviation Qualifications: Spotter
Posts: 1,174
Likes: 57
From: UK
Ok so the managers are all nobbers and I'm all the usual names... Yet it seems pilots have no representation, or effective route of communication, with the executive and the level of sophistication to the solution is to down tools?
Guest
Posts: n/a
The problem isn't too many fitters/post room boys, it's too many 'managers'
Ok so the managers are all nobbers and I'm all the usual names..
Everyone in the stadium knows exactly what the guys down there are doing wrong, and how they should do it better....so there are 10.000 "experts", but only 22 "idiots" in every game.....
Why is a pilot a pilot, and not a manager?
Exactly-because he can do what other can't....
Don´t you think the same applies vv?
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Posts: n/a
They have meetings, they send memos, and err, but are they all really necessary?
Pilots are just taxi drivers for ONE means of transportation...are they really necessary?
As was mentioned before: Pilots are just ONE small piece of the puzzle.....so the universe does not turn around them (although most pilots think otherwise)..
Employers need to be a bit more creative and flexible with their workforce.
What i can tell you is that as soon as an employer shows a tiny bit of flexibility, planning is out of the window, and you will need one guy behind each pilot to plan all those "eventualities" pilots can come up with...
When you plead for flexibility:
Where is the flexibility from the pilots adopting to that situation?
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 48
Likes: 0
From: UK
Guys forget striking, it will do nothing but open the door to other operators who also have idle aircraft and access to excess crew, which is the basis of the current problems after all. It can only do damage.
The only answer is for the entire pilot workforce to quit and set up as a separate entity to the companies, who to quote CHC management, see themselves as nothing more than asset management companies, not helicopter operators.
Set up as a professional partnership akin to solicitors, accountants etc where all are invested in the business and supplying the pilot needs of the asset managers. Pilots could work as much or as little as they wish with a basic fee structure and profit share, pilot development would be experience and ability based rather than down to company ratios. The aim would be to provide all an equal proportion of days work to availability given.
There would be a buy in to provide startup capital and so all are invested in the business, there would need to be a leadership structure of some sort, however individual empire builders should be avoided. The ultimate aim should be a north sea wide ops manual with an independant training department, all backed and preferred by the CAA since this would be an entity actually focussed on flight operations.
This is not suggested as an easy option, indeed many would have to be prepared to work harder and more flexibly than now, however it would take control away from the companies who don't give a toss. Of course getting all of Bristow and CHC pilots to act together like this and be grown up enough to set something up together is optimistic, but if we were really serious then this is the action we should take. (Bond guys could join in too of course but since they don't seem to be at risk as yet they might take more convincing)
The only answer is for the entire pilot workforce to quit and set up as a separate entity to the companies, who to quote CHC management, see themselves as nothing more than asset management companies, not helicopter operators.
Set up as a professional partnership akin to solicitors, accountants etc where all are invested in the business and supplying the pilot needs of the asset managers. Pilots could work as much or as little as they wish with a basic fee structure and profit share, pilot development would be experience and ability based rather than down to company ratios. The aim would be to provide all an equal proportion of days work to availability given.
There would be a buy in to provide startup capital and so all are invested in the business, there would need to be a leadership structure of some sort, however individual empire builders should be avoided. The ultimate aim should be a north sea wide ops manual with an independant training department, all backed and preferred by the CAA since this would be an entity actually focussed on flight operations.
This is not suggested as an easy option, indeed many would have to be prepared to work harder and more flexibly than now, however it would take control away from the companies who don't give a toss. Of course getting all of Bristow and CHC pilots to act together like this and be grown up enough to set something up together is optimistic, but if we were really serious then this is the action we should take. (Bond guys could join in too of course but since they don't seem to be at risk as yet they might take more convincing)
Joined: Oct 1999
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 7,373
Likes: 931
From: Den Haag
....or take 6 months off to go travelling (for example).
I can't find an online copy of Lord McDonald's inquiry report into the strike, but I read it 25 years ago in the Aberdeen library and I would suggest it is mandatory reading for management and potential strikers alike.
I see the Glasgow Herald has a good record of its reporting of the event:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...,3935588&hl=en
https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...,3859322&hl=en
https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...75,37978&hl=en
https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...,3541663&hl=en
Editorial on Page 6 sums up the report's central messages
https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...,6377826&hl=en
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 244
Likes: 0
From: Ban Don Ling
212 man
That is unfair representation I suggest, judging from what the links which you have kindly posted say - he was to be wrongfully dismissed for not accepting a position overseas.
His desire to go sailing may have been one of the reasons he had happily accepted a contract which required him to be in Aberdeen.
Good read though!
His desire to go sailing may have been one of the reasons he had happily accepted a contract which required him to be in Aberdeen.
Good read though!
Last edited by tistisnot; 24th August 2015 at 12:53. Reason: add an "had"
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 244
Likes: 0
From: Ban Don Ling
212, 
I think the larger operators do have some sort of unpaid leave arrangement.
Noiseboy, in the present climate you do not have a hope in hell - too much uncertainty to drop all and buy in on it.
US and UK operators seem to be adamant union haters; do not fully understand why the leaders fear such bodies. Typically you're with us, or agin us. Spurns any chance of collective flexibility that hueyracer might wish to achieve.
Elsewhere it has worked and it is used as a tool to consult both ways; and help out with social planning especially in times such as this - but you do need 90+% support of the union.
I think the larger operators do have some sort of unpaid leave arrangement.
Noiseboy, in the present climate you do not have a hope in hell - too much uncertainty to drop all and buy in on it.
US and UK operators seem to be adamant union haters; do not fully understand why the leaders fear such bodies. Typically you're with us, or agin us. Spurns any chance of collective flexibility that hueyracer might wish to achieve.
Elsewhere it has worked and it is used as a tool to consult both ways; and help out with social planning especially in times such as this - but you do need 90+% support of the union.
