Strange Virus at Czech Airlines?
 

Today 26 flights were cancelled due to an unexplainable virus raging amongst CSA pilots. Or was it some crazy new bacteria? Anyhow, almost 100 pilots had to call in sick during the day...

Hope you all get well soon, folks :)

Seen it before
 

I think it is the iwantadequaterumuneration virus that can at times be quite nasty.

they got a cure for that, it s called, if i remember, p2j??, or p2f???.

ah yes, PAY TO FLY !!!

and it work with injection.

injection ,around 50'000 E for the cure..

Pressure tactics from the company to force a cure. Anyone caught taking a sick leave today INCLUDING a note from a doctor fully confirming a medical problem, are being placed on administrative leave. Btw, the initial problem that caused our pilots to be unnerved and of course, high stress, low resistance...is that CSA is transferring assets from the mainline to a charter 'sister' company which operates under different T&C's....of course more performance based..alas the line pilot working in this company (HCA) has no control over scheduling.

I was deadheading in 2009 and 2010 often with CSA, great people who assisted me in many ways. From that time I remember they where threatend with paycuts and more sickening measures. Maybe the seed placed at that time back now caused the illness around. No wonder.

I truly hope that the health get´s better together with some wealth as well.

Is the virus active in Iceland?

Virus...
 

....many thanks to the Dutch, Bulgarian and German carriers who stepped in to restore capacity. Without them, quite a few passengers would have been stranded.

:yuk:

That's probably referring to our ACMI operation in Iceland...that's actually the HCA (Holiday Czech Airlines)...a subdivision of CSA where the current management is shape shifting assets. I don't believe our colleagues were exposed to the virus nor were they expected to be exposed to the virus.

Yeah the ACMI operations...no they were never affected by the virus thing...

Management is not responsible for constantly deteriorating T&Cs. It is the pilots. One great stupid bunch of i*****.

Leading edge
 

Somebody once said to me - "never post after you came back from the pub"

You obviously never met that chap did you.

Ah Iceland, generally very nice people who were screwed by a very tiny minority of their folk. The whole population will pay for decades for the greed of a few.

Next year I want to go on holiday to Palma - second thoughts - Malaga will be better as Palma sounds too much like Palmi.

I am referring to the current situation at Czechoslovak Airlines. The ATR pilots are expected to have their wages cut by 40 percent in the near future. Protests from the companys other fleets have been "very mild" up to date.

I stick to my statement.

Just to correct LE a little bit, the replacement aircraft that I know of for sure come from VIA...a Bulgarian charter operator. Our Dutch colleagues were extremely helpful and if it wasn't for VNV, I suspect that we would have quite a bit more replacement aircraft. The IFALPA mutual assistance didn't come out until this morning because the situation was so quick, and spiraled out of control...meaning that it was the individual act of assessing one's health and making a no-go decision...a kind of blue flu.

All the pilots on sick leave were, or will be placed on administrative leave with no scheduled flying until further notice, including the ones with doctor notes. One question that arises is if a pilot employed by HCA and working under that AOC can fly CSA mainline airplanes and vice versa. Two different AOC's and two different companies....strange stuff.

The stakes are high, and this whole deal sounds like right out of scum like orensteins play book, the good ole alter ego airline, the race to the bottom, all the while the "fine" govt. "managers" line their pockets, all in the name of saving the company, and having zero accountability. Why even lorenzo would be proud, the XX% of the pilots going to the alter ego HCA will get the broom stick just not the Vaseline, good luck out there!!!!

Frank Lorenzo, actually.

Funny you mention that...I use that name in my dispatches from the front....part of that loving feeling on Thursday was a quick conversation with the HR dork and his gorillas who came out to advise us that our ID cards are blocked, access to the intranet denied, and our presence not welcomed on company property. Unfortunately, someone forgot about the logic of things and when I actually wanted to get out, I couldn't. Hired enforcers guarded all the exits and insisted that I use my ID to get out...the same one that was blocked. Then, I blocked the car exit because....you guessed it.......

- no, that is 'Rockitis' and only affects senior management.:)

Yeah Frank Lorenzo...

But these guys at Czechoslovak Airlines are worse. Not only are they violating all kinds of laws and rules, they are also incredibly dumb.

Well there could be now a discussion about democracy and human rights in general - what we see now is the fact that even after the fall of the iron curtain the commitment to democracy is only a lip service. Once scratching at the surface a deep rot becomes visible and a bad smell spoils the nice stage of democracy so frentically adopted back in 1989.

What I have seen and experienced up at the fifth floor a couple of days ago, where bodyguards denied myself a free access to the cantine to grab something to drink, the threat to call the police to "remove" myself off the premises, made me speechless to say the least. More, the fact that head of HR resources handed out, personally, those letters with a red face and loud voice shows how little the iron curtain has lifted yet and how shallow the understanding of human rights and free speech is still today.

You are a poet LE....

Nay. I am just mad at the whole world (behind the iron curtain). :}

Make no mistake about ,it remember NBU ? These thugs will stop at nothing. Things really have come full circle in this place, and when push comes to shove the dirt bags go right back to old commie games. Hostages have been taken.

The management is appointed by the govt, and every needs to get theirs, and they have and will use any means to move thier agenda forward, this time lets try....move the entire operation over to HCA, take a 50% pay cut across the board, file for another AOC, move others assets and repeat.......

They have been quite sucessful at diving the pilot group as LE so eloquently put, and now is the time to stand together, as all pilots will be under the HCA cert, if allowed to parcel out ANY mainline flying

I remember this NBU stuff very well..for those looking closely at how that was done a few years ago - it was the old communist stuff with interrogations and interviews at shady places.
Bratko, you are right; this place has come full circle - but most eyes and ears are closed this time, because it is a "democracy". I have grown up in a country where democracy isn't just a word, it is one of the very pillars of its success nowadays.
I am quite fed up with this whole place. Actually according to the CSA president's directive, it is against the law to publish negative comments about the company on public forums such as pprune or facebook. He encourages to bring any such comments to his attention - with dire consequences for the delinquent.

Again, there isn't much that can be done now, but I would like to repeat myself; thank you Air Berlin pilots and Air Via pilots for your great support in this conflict. Personally I have no anger at you guys, but this confirms the situation in Europe; we are all racing towards the bottom - fast.

Via, the Bulgarian company may or may not be a member of the BULALPA so I think it's a wildcard. The Air Berlin guys are probably VC and should be in the loop shortly. Again, the IFALPA mutual assistance, due to the spontaneous nature of the individual sickness...(had to read that one twice...:)..) took a while to send out. IFALPA was extremely quick to get on it but I doubt that we got it out before the aircraft arrived.

Cheer up LE :D:{

Sounds like a very difficult situation, and not much fun for those involved. Can I ask though - how much profit has CSA made over the past few years?

LE, I know that threat personally from the past, a certain VP of flight ops and a certain CEO named Kula, but nothing ever came of it. Come to think of things now and then, I draw many similarities, with the unfortunate exeption of the pilot unity. In my case the comment that pissed them off was " management was unwilling to actively engage the pilots in meaningful negotiations" and that started a **** storm for some of us, so I can only imagine what these commie $&@?'s are brewing up. In today's media driven world use your resources and document what is going on, someone will take notice, and for the inevitable goon from manaegment who is monitoring this forum Dejte pozor!!!

profits
 

retrosgone, I have no idea but LE or Click might know, but how is that related to starting alter ego companies? Are you from manangement?

It depends on how you look at it. We have two accounting standards...the Czech way and the International way. Differs mainly in how you amortize equipment.

A little aside to your specific problem, but isn't it interesting how life nowadays has adopted all the wrong parts of the two opposing ideologies, commies & capitalists.
Covert interviews & no respect for any workers voices + money grabbing profit at any cost

Versus, what could/should have been the good bits of the 2 ideaologies,

A place for everyone & fair reward for your skills, respect for your contribution + the opportunity to get rich & thrive if you had the ability/skill/opportunity.

Sad to say, but you have /are being shafted in the same manner as this side of the iron curtain, & to add to your woes your bosses have still the usage available of all the dodgy techniques. and willingness to turn a blind eye , that existed in the past.

My Romanian girlfriend has always bemoaned the stupidity of the Romanians who were so overjoyed when Ceausescu got his come-uppance. The same b@stards who were in charge stayed in charge, he was just the fall-guy that had to be sacrificed to let the rest continue unhindered under a new name. I guess that probably sums up the greater part of the 1989 scene. . .sh1t always somehow floats to the top (some say cream stays on the top, but not when the milk is sour in the 1st place := )

Air Via is doing charter and ACMI business (mainly the latter in winter season). Do you think their pilots are examining all such details behind each of their "mission" carefully before going ahead and fly? :=

They simply go and fly whenever they needed for firefighting as that's how their company makes living (and they do it bloody well if I can add). It does not mean they agree/disagree with the purpose and reason of your action (which by the way they hardly knew of), they are just doing their job.

I worked in CSA in 2005, when the secret services (NBU) where doing the illegal background checks on us and when the idiotic ex minister of defence was at the helm of the company. That was the time, when CSA started heading downwards.
I openly protested, refused to give this secret mafia any info and quit the job. I was amazed, how afraid people were. If majority of pilots were not so afraid and sticked together, we could have slowed down the mafia, which is ruling CSA ever since. Just the names are changing. I feel sorry for CSA. It used to be a good company. But with these ruthless people up top, there is no chance of survival.

Thats what they said in Nurnberg 1946 as well.

The difference is quite big. What would you have done, if you were in their place? Would refuse? And you would have been jobless next day. The decision is not in their hands. This company is operating mainly during the summertime. The pilots are the last in the chain of decision making where to go flying. And they are mute-less,

struck work
 

Kolino relax, what do you think LE is talking about, CSA has taken hostages, i.e. they have done what you have mentioned would happen to someone at VIA if you don't work the assigned trip, I get it but as was stated this all happened fast now YOU know what is going on and I understand that if your boss tells you to fly you most likly will, but that makes the problem worse, and even for YOU maybe not right this minute but if some can do YOUR job for less guess what? So do not be surprised if the CSA pilots are not that impressed with your company "saving the day". Like it or not, now you know what is going on, your obviously a big boy, make the choice, as this is far from over.

Bratko, I wouldn't say that I do not support the pilots from CSA. In contrary, I do. I've been in their situation and I know what is the attitude to the pilots who have been sent to do their job. What I wanted to say is that the Air Via pilots don't have any choice. This do not make them happy in this situation.

What goes around comes around....meaning that we (at CSA), knowingly or not, have in the past sent out our own aircraft under precisely the same conditions. Perhaps SNPL or VC were involved in a dispute and we already had our own aircraft staffed by the clueless or uninterested doing the same thing. I would strongly suggest self reflection and perhaps making sure the guidelines are followed on our own doorstep. Something about stones and glass houses :).

Well, with the current leadership within the VC anything that is not Lufthansa doesn't count. Therefore nobody knows nothing and does nothing about the situation. Only very few colleagues at air berlin know about the situation at CSA and those do not fly wet leases for them. However, absolutely no guidance and information from VC so far.

..and it has begun...
The "minibase" in BTS is closing down. All flights from Slovakia are cancelled. Plus, the flight Poprad - London is being axed as well (Poprad actually approved a 50000 EUR subsidy for operating these flights just about five weeks ago).

A speaker of the airline said the decision to close down BTS base was "influenced" by the "illegal industrial action" the pilots were taking a few days back.

Looks like imminent cash flow issues....wonder if the next paycheque arrives on time.

Looks like the slippery slope is going down hill fast!! Hang on and bring your own vasaline.

I think the quote was "may you live in interesting times"and certainly NOT "may you live in f...d up times"......I don't think the subsidy was public knowledge but hey..ok. and the news was out for a few hours that it was our fault that they closed the BTS base. Fact remains that the executive board is not allowed on company property without a security escort, boardmembers and anyone taking part in last weeks events is on administrative leave...despite having all the proper medical documentation.

Now its out; management fired 33 pilots today; apparently they are disregarding the seniority list and are firing across all fleets and ranks. This is against the collective agreement. Apparently some of the sacked pilots were on sick leave for a day ot two last week - reason to fire? In this Banana republic everything is possible, apparently. The courts will be busy...

The announcement also says that a further 60 pilots will get sacked. Officially for the "bad economic situation", but the truth?

This profession is dead.