We hope you had an enjoyable festive season with your loved ones or colleagues down route and a good start into the new year.
2020, a year that we will certainly remember for many reasons, was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications not only on our private, but also our professional lives. What initially seemed to be a supposedly isolated threat led to the cancelation of all layovers in mainland China, the implementation of protective measures and procedures to reduce the risk of getting infected. However, the situation changed quickly and soon we have been faced with many more restriction, including the fierce requirement of in-room confinement during layovers.
Whilst the first vaccines have been rolled out and made available to the public, it is obvious that we will have to deal with the current situation for quite some more time until we will be able to enjoy “normal” layovers again. Cargolux pilots have shown a tremendous performance and resilience in these difficult times and once again proved their true value to the company. Unfortunately, management needs to be reminded over and over again of this fact.
What else happened in 2020? The new off day scheme was introduced in January and it turned out to be well-received by our members. In July 2020 the new CWA provisions covering flight time limitations for Standard and Augmented Crew operation came into effect. This marked a huge step towards fatigue mitigation and was put to the test in a dynamically changing operational environment caused by numerous restrictions due to COVID-19.
In 2021 we will continue to focus on the correct application of the CWA as well as ongoing issues in the day-to-day operation, e.g. crew hotels. The last vacation bidding for 2021 revealed some issues in the process and together with Flight Operations Management and members of the Crew Planning Department we will analyse ways to improve the situation.
In recent months we experienced a practical drift away from some provisions of the CWA as Crew Control more often seems to take certain flexibility offered by the pilot community as granted, which is being reflected in their scheduling practice without even asking the concerned pilot.
Therefore, we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the CWA 2020-2022 and to also read our “Know Your CWA 2020” series. Know your contract and decide consciously when deviating from it.
Remember: We can negotiate conditions, but you have to enforce them!
Please find below an update on:
- Hotel Accommodation
- Profit Share
- Cargolux Divisional Assembly 2021
Hotel Accommodation
Our experience in 2020 has shown that the standards of our hotels are slowly but steadily being challenged. Whilst it is understandable to a certain extend that hotels had to be changed fairly quickly and many hotels still are closed because of COVID-19, it is not acceptable that these decisions in some cases were taken without involvement of the Hotel Committee. We continuously remind management of their obligation to honour internal policies, yet this isn’t always the case.
In this context we would like to remind you that in the case that your accommodation does not fulfil the requirements of either the Hotel Policy and the CWA or your rest is in some way compromised, there are a couple of options you need to do.
- First, carefully evaluate your fitness to conduct your next flight. It is absolutely essential that you are well rested before commencing any flight duty. If in doubt do not hesitate to request a quieter room, potentially requiring additional rest which may delay the departure accordingly. Please don’t forget to inform all your colleagues and the local station. Make sure to file a fatigue report and send a copy to cvhotels@alpl.lu.
- If the hotel has deficiencies of the standards as laid out in the Hotel Policy and also in the CWA 2020-2022, please file a VR and send a copy to cvhotels@alpl.lu.
Without a copy of the reports you submit, the Hotel Committee has nothing in their hands to follow-up these complaints with the company. Therefore, please take the time and always write a report and send a copy to the Hotel Committee as well.
The Hotel Committee is fulfilling their obligation as laid out in the Hotel Policy at its best to select and propose contracted hotels. It is unfortunate however, that this process occasionally still is ignored by Procurement Management and that the well-functioning of this collaboration is undermined by lack of transparency and poor communication from management side.
Many have asked the Hotel Committee to identify hotels, which were not approved and not suggested as per the hotel policy and the CWA. To answer this question, we have to distinguish between government-imposed hotels and untransparent management decisions.
BKK, HKG and SIN are known examples of mandatory accommodations. We are at least glad to see that overall, the “first in, first out” principle is respected, and the layovers are in general rather short. It is also good to see that the company, should conditions deteriorate to unacceptable levels, acts quickly to change layover destinations accordingly, like it just happened in SIN. The unpleasant examples for various reasons (e.g. location, unsafe environment, noise level, lack of nutrition) regarding unilateral management decisions are the current hotels in: SEA, LAX, DFW, JFK, MIA. Previous unilateral changes in ORD, DFW and ANC resulted in significant challenges and required us to try to mitigate certain deficiencies and ultimately the need to move again. Examples of successful changes in the past were IAH and KUL.
Unfortunately, to ensure that the CWA and internal policies are respected, it will require a joint effort by you, our members, the Hotel Committee as well as the Divisional Board and finally the Unions, which we decided to involve trying to solve this pressing issue.
Profit Share
We have been approached by some members regarding a rumour related to an alleged change of the Luxembourg’s taxation law for profit share schemes. This rumour is based on at least one article published on the internet already last year, which may give the wrong impression that the expected profit share for 2020 may be capped.
Without going into details, we would like to clarify, that the rumour is not correct and that the profit share formula agreed in the Collective Work Agreement is not affected by Luxembourg’s budget law for the year 2021. However, the 2021 budget law foresees an option for companies to provide a bonus system to their employees, which is tax deductible for the company and the employees who benefit from such a new scheme.
Again, this is an optional new scheme, which does not negatively affect any existing profit share or bonus schemes, like the one stipulated in Art.13.4. of the Collective Work Agreement.
In order to clarify another rumour, we also would like to confirm that management NEVER approached the Unions with the suggestion to cap or reduce the profit share for 2020 and in return extend the current CWA beyond 2022. Besides, we would never agree to such a major concession without consulting our members first.
Cargolux Divisional Assembly
In spring 2021, the next Cargolux Divisional Assembly will take place. After the regular two-year term also a new Cargolux Divisional Board will be elected at this assembly. Potentially, not all members of the board will stand for re-election, hence we would like to ask you to consider becoming a candidate for the election of the new Cargolux Divisional Board. If you are interested and want more information about the work of a board member/pilot representative, please send an email to cvboard@alpl.lu.
A separate invitation including more details and the agenda will be sent in due time.
