Bristow UK strike
I think we now have to officially welcome a member of Bristow management (Special 25) onto this forum. At least use different terms in your posts from what was spouted by management at yesterday’s town hall call to throw us off the trail! The roster is the same as our peers, the training has already started to slide as has the engineering. When does it end? That BVA that used to get banded about is now firmly in the profit column.
NorthernStar - BALPA and Bristow aircrew aren’t asking for a company crippling rise, just that their pay in some way keeps up with experienced inflation. The union have continually said to the company that this negotiation is only on pay but they keep including a resetting of all T&C.
It’s worth noting that the award of NLSAR and associated pay & conditions has been since ERA bought Bristow. Is it any surprise that the attack on U.K. T&C is now happening? I predict the employees of IRESAR will have similar coming at them in the next few years…
NorthernStar - BALPA and Bristow aircrew aren’t asking for a company crippling rise, just that their pay in some way keeps up with experienced inflation. The union have continually said to the company that this negotiation is only on pay but they keep including a resetting of all T&C.
It’s worth noting that the award of NLSAR and associated pay & conditions has been since ERA bought Bristow. Is it any surprise that the attack on U.K. T&C is now happening? I predict the employees of IRESAR will have similar coming at them in the next few years…
Join Date: Jul 2021
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Been following this thread with interest, our union will be going into contract negotiations later in the year to prepare for a contract vote next year.
I truly hate the process. The games that get played by management and union alike. The company I work for is better in a lot of ways than the previous one to be fair, and most of what we will be looking for is adjustments in pay to keep up with inflation.
Unfortunately the Union has put themselves in a bind over a long time where people expect parity in pay whether or not they directly work on an aircraft or sweep the floors and take out the trash, and everyone naturally wants this to continue. I just don’t know how sustainable it is.
What I DO know, strikes are not fun, and the last one that happened here was ultimately for (and over) nothing at all.
I hope we avoid a repeat next year.
fltmech
I truly hate the process. The games that get played by management and union alike. The company I work for is better in a lot of ways than the previous one to be fair, and most of what we will be looking for is adjustments in pay to keep up with inflation.
Unfortunately the Union has put themselves in a bind over a long time where people expect parity in pay whether or not they directly work on an aircraft or sweep the floors and take out the trash, and everyone naturally wants this to continue. I just don’t know how sustainable it is.
What I DO know, strikes are not fun, and the last one that happened here was ultimately for (and over) nothing at all.
I hope we avoid a repeat next year.
fltmech
After nearly 27 years flying offshore I've see the good ol' days and now the bad days. I believe the bad days came when the "Personal Dept." became HR. It all changed when the American business model arrived, as I've stated in an earlier post. There used to be Give and Take then in the early 2000's it jut became Take only. SASLess, I agree with you regarding strikes but sometimes you have to stand up as a group and make a firm F^ck0ff stand to management. That's the only way to get the message into these idiots. I've had GM's walk in and threaten us, we've all laughed and said "You'll be gone well before me" and sure enough, I'm now on 9th GM and I've lost count on chief pilots who have come and gone.
I heard the UK Bristow pilots where on strike yesterday, well done fellas, thinking of you all
I await the abuse
I heard the UK Bristow pilots where on strike yesterday, well done fellas, thinking of you all
I await the abuse
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However I think it’s only fair to point out that when the American business model arrived, the aging fleet of 1980s Super Pumas, that had seen no investment in the decades of “UK business model” leaving Bristow way behind its competitors, was replaced with a huge investment in a modern fleet. I left in 2013 and quite possibly things got worse after the departure of Bill Chiles (at the same time), but I think it has to be down to the individuals in charge, not the culture of the owning company’s country.
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After nearly 27 years flying offshore I've see the good ol' days and now the bad days. I believe the bad days came when the "Personal Dept." became HR. It all changed when the American business model arrived, as I've stated in an earlier post. There used to be Give and Take then in the early 2000's it jut became Take only. SASLess, I agree with you regarding strikes but sometimes you have to stand up as a group and make a firm F^ck0ff stand to management. That's the only way to get the message into these idiots. I've had GM's walk in and threaten us, we've all laughed and said "You'll be gone well before me" and sure enough, I'm now on 9th GM and I've lost count on chief pilots who have come and gone.
I heard the UK Bristow pilots where on strike yesterday, well done fellas, thinking of you all
I await the abuse
I heard the UK Bristow pilots where on strike yesterday, well done fellas, thinking of you all
I await the abuse
I wish everyone all the best, but I'm not seeing the desired outcome yet.
That being said, chc seem to have a lot of capacity and only doing an average of 8 flights a day looking at the online schedule.
I suspect that will be CHC at capacity then.
With the condensed flying Bristows are doing it might be butting pilots up against FTLs maybe? This would cause more disruption, also if they are not fully crewing contracts there will be little to zero overtime being carried out.
Headaches for the company.
With the condensed flying Bristows are doing it might be butting pilots up against FTLs maybe? This would cause more disruption, also if they are not fully crewing contracts there will be little to zero overtime being carried out.
Headaches for the company.
I suspect that will be CHC at capacity then.
With the condensed flying Bristows are doing it might be butting pilots up against FTLs maybe? This would cause more disruption, also if they are not fully crewing contracts there will be little to zero overtime being carried out.
Headaches for the company.
With the condensed flying Bristows are doing it might be butting pilots up against FTLs maybe? This would cause more disruption, also if they are not fully crewing contracts there will be little to zero overtime being carried out.
Headaches for the company.
Is management pilots and trainers flying the line with resulting knock on effects to their day jobs sustainable?
Is aircraft from other bases positioning to help catch-up sustainable?
Is the stalling of contract negotiations/decisions sustainable?
Are the financial penalties for SAR bases being offline and failure to fulfill a Government contract sustainable?
Are the financial penalties and relationship damage with O&G companies sustainable?
Is aircraft from other bases positioning to help catch-up sustainable?
Is the stalling of contract negotiations/decisions sustainable?
Are the financial penalties for SAR bases being offline and failure to fulfill a Government contract sustainable?
Are the financial penalties and relationship damage with O&G companies sustainable?
I think the O&G companies will quietly take it on the chin - the last thing they want is for pilot wages and T & C to go up requiring the operators to charge them more.
My guess is that they will quietly be nodding at Bristow with a "we're supposed to say we're not happy but we don't want you to give in either so just crack on"
My guess is that they will quietly be nodding at Bristow with a "we're supposed to say we're not happy but we don't want you to give in either so just crack on"
I think the O&G companies will quietly take it on the chin - the last thing they want is for pilot wages and T & C to go up requiring the operators to charge them more.
My guess is that they will quietly be nodding at Bristow with a "we're supposed to say we're not happy but we don't want you to give in either so just crack on"
My guess is that they will quietly be nodding at Bristow with a "we're supposed to say we're not happy but we don't want you to give in either so just crack on"
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But they do. All the time. It's Ops Normal for Big Oil, Big Aviation and Big Everything Else.
The O&G companies won't be pleased that this is happening but they won't want Bristow to back-down either because it will set a precedent which won't just stop at the helicopter operators. It will roll over to the offshore unions - "look what the Bristow pilots achieved when they went on strike guys!"
Your premise supposes that the O&G companies don't focus on profit, senior pay packages, share buybacks and acquisitions.
But they do. All the time. It's Ops Normal for Big Oil, Big Aviation and Big Everything Else.
The O&G companies won't be pleased that this is happening but they won't want Bristow to back-down either because it will set a precedent which won't just stop at the helicopter operators. It will roll over to the offshore unions - "look what the Bristow pilots achieved when they went on strike guys!"
But they do. All the time. It's Ops Normal for Big Oil, Big Aviation and Big Everything Else.
The O&G companies won't be pleased that this is happening but they won't want Bristow to back-down either because it will set a precedent which won't just stop at the helicopter operators. It will roll over to the offshore unions - "look what the Bristow pilots achieved when they went on strike guys!"
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My observation (not sure I qualify to make a premise) is that the O&G companies are more interested in the effect this is having on their operations (it is), their employees (it is), and their quarterly results. The suggestion they would take a hit to collude with one of many possible suppliers (one of the more expensive ones), who they would quite happily drop if they could get a better deal elsewhere in the hope they can steer the sector towards stagnated T&Cs at a risk to their own share price and investors who are generally looking for a quick buck I think is a little far fetched.
It’s true that contracts are awarded typically to the lowest bidder, but not in every case. However, every bidder is normally pre-qualified, so it’s not like contracts are awarded to incompetent operators vs competent ones. No jokes intended…..
Once the contract is running, the client is primarily looking at service delivery and safety - the latter, it could be argued, with a focus on incident statistics if one wanted to be cynical. If the operator is failing to meet its contractual availability obligations, or has a number of serious incidents - which then appear in the client’s statistics - it may be in danger of the contract being terminated. Normally an attempt at remediation would take place.
Whether operator cost increases from salary rises can be passed on to the client will depend on what escalation clauses are in the contract. Normally it is expected that the rates will take into account likely cost increases over the contract life, but there may be fixed percentage annual rises, or clauses to allow real-world inflation to be addressed. But, not all contractual relationships/structures are the same, and the personal working relationships between the contractor and contractee are a key element.
Bottom line is, I think BHL will have to absorb any salary rises, and I don’t think this strike is hurting the clients much financially (if at all) - just Bristow.
For reference, I used to manage a $400 million helicopter and FW contract, as the client, where strikes of up to 10 consecutive days were not uncommon. Also, zero aircraft availability was not unheard of……you find alternative solutions.
Last edited by 212man; 23rd May 2024 at 17:12.
Thanks for the detailed and informative information. Regards my comments, the first paragraph was poorly constructed. It should have read:
"My observation (not sure I qualify to make a premise) is that the O&G companies are more interested in their quarterly results, and the effect this strike is having on their operations (it is) and employees (it is)."
I just can't see them dedicating much effort towards colluding with Bristow to help break the strike.
It's interesting you mention O&G companies' focus on service delivery and safety - both of those are currently reduced compared to before the strikes.
I agree that the O&G companies are likely not significantly affected from a financial perspective. My question earlier in the thread was "Are the financial penalties and relationship damage with O&G companies sustainable?" when it had been suggested flights could simply be caught up on with minimal impact on Bristow or it's clients, suggesting the strike a bit pointless.
"My observation (not sure I qualify to make a premise) is that the O&G companies are more interested in their quarterly results, and the effect this strike is having on their operations (it is) and employees (it is)."
I just can't see them dedicating much effort towards colluding with Bristow to help break the strike.
It's interesting you mention O&G companies' focus on service delivery and safety - both of those are currently reduced compared to before the strikes.
I agree that the O&G companies are likely not significantly affected from a financial perspective. My question earlier in the thread was "Are the financial penalties and relationship damage with O&G companies sustainable?" when it had been suggested flights could simply be caught up on with minimal impact on Bristow or it's clients, suggesting the strike a bit pointless.
Thanks for the detailed and informative information. Regards my comments, the first paragraph was poorly constructed. It should have read:
"My observation (not sure I qualify to make a premise) is that the O&G companies are more interested in their quarterly results, and the effect this strike is having on their operations (it is) and employees (it is)."
I just can't see them dedicating much effort towards colluding with Bristow to help break the strike.
It's interesting you mention O&G companies' focus on service delivery and safety - both of those are currently reduced compared to before the strikes.
I agree that the O&G companies are likely not significantly affected from a financial perspective. My question earlier in the thread was "Are the financial penalties and relationship damage with O&G companies sustainable?" when it had been suggested flights could simply be caught up on with minimal impact on Bristow or it's clients, suggesting the strike a bit pointless.
"My observation (not sure I qualify to make a premise) is that the O&G companies are more interested in their quarterly results, and the effect this strike is having on their operations (it is) and employees (it is)."
I just can't see them dedicating much effort towards colluding with Bristow to help break the strike.
It's interesting you mention O&G companies' focus on service delivery and safety - both of those are currently reduced compared to before the strikes.
I agree that the O&G companies are likely not significantly affected from a financial perspective. My question earlier in the thread was "Are the financial penalties and relationship damage with O&G companies sustainable?" when it had been suggested flights could simply be caught up on with minimal impact on Bristow or it's clients, suggesting the strike a bit pointless.
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What is certain is that flights have not happened when they should which will lead to disruption costs for personnel, flights have been carried out by other operators and by aircraft and crews positioning from other bases which incurs cost - whether it is Bristow, the client, or both, the additional costs have to be borne by someone.