On 26 September 2018 finally another negotiation meeting took place. You might remember, the last one was on 5 July – almost 3 months ago. Meetings initially foreseen at the end of July were cancelled and as a consequence the LCGB decided to ask you, our members, to be 100% compliant with your CWA.
The meeting was chaired by the EVP HR, Legal and Compliance. Our EVP, VP Flight Operations and other people from various departments like Maintenance, Global Logistics, HR and Finance complemented the management team.
The main point on the agenda was the impact assessment presentation of the union claims based on the data available to management. A quantification of financial and productivity impact was done where possible with regards to specific claims.
It did not come as a surprise that in this presentation the “tremendous” financial impact of the claims for the company was highlighted. The CFO provided further explanations and assumptions of the future business plan until 2029. It was also stated, that the shareholders are not willing to put more capital into the company and hence all the financial burden will have to be borne by the employees. This is nothing new, we have seen it already in the past with the acquisition of the B747-8 fleet. In short, management told us that the claims are too expensive and would have a huge adverse impact on the future of the company. On the other hand it was noted, that management will not be presenting any claims of their own.
Management´s tactic was rather not-constructive, trying to dissect any of the union claims, pretending not to understand the issue or requesting further information. If this was owed to inadequate preparation or just a delay-tactic by management remains to be seen.
In summary we can say, that we are still far from finding any agreement, even from seriously engaging in negotiating. In the last two months management has had time to conduct a full analysis of the union claims and it is unfortunate that there were no written requests for clarification, causing additional delay. The Unions have sent a letter to the CEO, providing their impressions and once again highlighted the importance blocks of negotiation-days as a required prerequisite to initiate an efficient social dialogue. Please click here to read this letter.
In this context we also would like to thank our members for following the ”100% compliance with your CWA” campaign. We know that this campaign may have an adverse effect on your rosters and your private lives, but we need to maintain the pressure so that we achieve the goals you expect from these negotiations!
These goals are:
- Introduction of flight time limitations within the CWA to include a reasonable buffer, to enhance flight safety and reduce fatigue levels providing a sustainable work environment for us pilots
- Return to a single standard amongst the pilot group by eliminating the so called “B-scale”
- Introduce mechanisms to improve roster stability and
- a salary increase.
Even with Flight Operations Management modest attempts to address some of our concerns – that we have been expressing for quite some time now – only backing up existing FTLs with block-time limitations and rostering-buffers will ensure a safe and yet, sustainable operation!
