Please find below some information concerning “Back to Back” operation, Delegationand an update from the Hotel Committee.
Back to Back operation
On Monday 10 April 2017 we forwarded you the letter that was sent to the Chief Pilot´s Office regarding the “Back to Back” operation. Meanwhile we have followed up with a second letter to ensure compliance with EASA FTL.
The lack of standardisation of implementing the EASA rules has caused confusion and frustration amongst us crew members and poses a significant risk for flight-safety since more than a year now.
It is imperative to have this rectified so that we can actively measure the effectiveness of the EASA rules to truly mitigate fatigue in advance when operating the aircraft. This measurement is supported by continuous fatigue reports through the iQSMS or LEAF applications that you submit.
With only 4 months before the start of the traditional high season the demand for air cargo remains high whereas the recruitment of new pilots and upgrades to new captains do not keep up with this development. We are sure that all of you do not want to be exposed to disruptive schedules and operating to the limits of the regulations again, all of it with the threat of sanctions for not-complying with regulations that have not been clearly defined in the first place!
We have therefore provided a guidance on what to expect with “Back to Back” and what to do if this expectation is not supported by the Flight Operations Department. We acknowledge the fact that this normally would fall under the competency and responsibility of management, but since Cargolux elected to stay passive thus exploiting another legal grey area on the expense of their employees we decided to send out this information.
In general we advise you not to operate any flight if you feel that you will not be able to fulfil your duties as a crewmember due to fatigue.
We have not yet abandoned all hope that Flight Operations Management will meet their legal obligations to give adequate guidance and support all crew members in following these mandatory regulations.
This is not only about legal compliance with mandatory EU-regulations or the avoidance of sanctions to crew-members, this is about your health and safety!
Delegation
On Tuesday, 25 March 1017, your elected delegation representatives met with representatives of the ITM (Inspection du Travail et des Mines) to hear arguments pertaining the latest “recours” that has been filed, once again with the aim of challenging the election results of 2013.
Please bear in mind that after a lengthy legal battle we obtained a final and uncontestable court decision stating that the results are valid. Nevertheless, the current president of the delegation, Mr. David Massaro, elected to disregard this decision of the highest court of Luxembourg in January 2017 and after almost four years still refuses to assemble the lawfully elected delegation.
We showed up for that meeting well prepared, together with our two lawyers who fiercely argued the case. Without going into details, it was obvious that the argument of the OGBL lawyer – “the contestation of the results is valid and has a suspensory effect, preventing the new delegation to gather” – was groundless, ill-conceived and absurd.
Nobody in the room could follow his argument, that the original deadline that expired 10 days after the election in 2013(!) was suspended and the contestation therefore valid. Thus, it was only a small surprise that even the company lawyer of Cargolux, Maitre Castegnaro, did follow our line of argumentation.
A final decision of the ITM regarding the validity of the election results will be obtained within the next two weeks. However, we should manage our expectations. It could be possible that the opposing party will be able to further stall the process by filing bogus claims.
We already discussed with our lawyers an alternate strategy in case this risk materializes.
Hotel Committee
The past few years has seen the Hotel Committee (HC) facing various challenges to ensure standards are maintained. From the company´s side the HC has a new management team to answer to and it also welcomed 3 new members of the HC.
Currently the company is represented by Ingvi Halldorsson, Joni Greco, and Madelene Fasol. Flight Operations now no longer has any involvement with the hotel process any more. 4 pilots are also members of the HC. These are Sebastien Henry (South America), Joachim Eder (Asia), Daniel Schlim, (Middle East) and Dave Wainwright (USA and Chairman).
On behalf of the new chairman of the HC and all our colleagues we like to take this opportunity to welcome the new members and thank them for taking up the job.
They are taking over the roles that were filled by Koen Teirlinck and Pablo Alvarez, who for the past 8 and 10 years respectively have put in many weeks, days and hours to ensure that we have had a hotel standard that we deserve. They have gone above and beyond the call of duty in achieving the standards that we take for granted today. We would also like to thank Tomas Ejyolfsson, who last year regrettably had to step down as the chairman of the HC after 4 years of running a superbly good operation.
The HC is here to ensure that the hotels we stay at are quiet, safe and secure! Additionally, they endeavor to make sure that our hotel standards are maintained and that in these times of long duties and minimum rest times we are rested in accommodation that allows us to undertake our schedules safely knowing that the rest we expect will not be undermined by cost cutting threats or substandard hotels.
On the line we hear many rumors about hotels and contracts and as many of you know the HC has secured long term contract’s in both JFK and HKG. However, as the year draws on we are faced with new concerns regarding our hotel network as management seek to make further cost cutting measures into the budget. Whilst the committee is working actively with management to try and achieve the desired budget constraints, they are not prepared to see a degradation in our rest and recuperation standards. As such the challenges remain for us all.
Management has indicated that our hotel standards are secure for another year at least, but with the new CWA negotiations just around the corner, there is no indication that this will be the case for the future. We all know how important it is to achieve good rest down route under our new FTLs and we recently agreed upon the Hotel Policy, which will go a long way to ensuring that whilst we may see minor changes in hotels on our network, the quality of your rest should not, and will not be affected.
If you find issues with the accommodation of a contractual nature, or not your usual contracted hotel, please file a VR and send an email to the HC at hotel@alpl.lu. It is very difficult to achieve anything by way of rumor.
