As many of you have noticed, the success rate for the bidding via the Preferential Bidding System (PBS) has gone down and quite often the rosters hardly reflect the bidding requests at the moment.
The main reason for this is that the process to produce the monthly rosters has changed and that the Company uses a different rostering software, which sets different priorities in regard to the planning of trips, off days, training, etc. to make the planning of crews more efficient.
Obviously, any changes in this respect have a tremendous effect on the outcome of our preferential bidding and it goes without saying that during the complex process of producing the rosters the Company`s requirement for efficiency must not have a negative impact on the best possible lifestyle for the majority of the pilots.
It is very important to understand that currently our CWA only states that we have a PBS in place and that pilots can bid for their off days. The PBS only consists of the interface we use to place our bids and submit our preferences. Which actual rostering system is being used by the Company, how it is defined and which parameters are being used for the production of the rosters are entirely outside the scope of the CWA.
We realize that there is an urgent desire for a quick solution since roster issues can have a huge negative influence on our private lives, but please understand that it will take time to possibly find an agreement. In the meantime, when it comes to Off-Day bidding, we recommend considering what we mentioned in our Members Update for July 2021.
Work is in progress, and we are in a dialogue with Crew Planning Management and the Chief Pilot, where certainly your concerns and feedback are brought forward.
We will keep you informed of the progress.
