On Wednesday 03 November 2021 an amendment to the CWA was signed by the Company and both Unions.
Since the Company implemented the Jeppesen Roster Planning Tool many of our members complained about their published rosters and in particular that the success rate of Off- Day requests changed dramatically compared to the times before this new software was used.
Unfortunately, the present CWA, like all previous ones, does not include much about requests for Off- Days, other than what is mentioned in Art. 36.16.1 j). Requesting trips or specific destinations is not covered at all and the “PBS” is nothing more than what these three letters stand for, a Preferential Bidding System. The missing details of how rosters are being built applying a seniority based Preferential Bidding System is certainly an important topic, which should be included in a CWA.
Also, in the context of rostering, a few members reported that the Company unilaterally decided to implement a dead-line until which a pilot could request to have the “2 for 1” compensation for A- and B- Days or the “1 for 1” compensation for C- Days in the next unpublished roster period. The CWA did not include any deadline for these requests in the past and a pilot could request the “2 for 1” and “1 for 1” compensation until the minute before the next roster period was published.
Considering the importance to address the problems which surfaced with the implementation of the Jeppesen Roster Planning Tool and that having a dead-line for the “2 for 1” and “1 for 1” compensation requests might be in our interest as well to prevent subsequent roster disruptions of other pilots after initial roster publication, we suggested to the Company to bundle both issues in an amendment of the CWA, the one which was signed today.
The amendment of Art. 36.16.2 and 36.16.3 includes now clear rules until when a pilot must inform the company about his or her choice to compensate for Off- Days, the communication method and to which department the request shall be sent to (Crew Control). It also includes additional text to reflect the changes of the Duty Sheets, which were implemented earlier this year after consultation of the Delegation. This was necessary to be in line with Luxembourgish Labour Law and to avoid double compensation in certain cases.
At the same time Art. 36.20 Preferential Bidding System was added to the CWA. This article gives us as your Representatives the ability to engage in discussions with the Crew Planning Department to jointly define and review PBS key performance indicators with the focus on balancing the quality of life for the Pilots. These discussions include the following important topics:
- how the existing request options for Off-Days could be expanded and if options to request layover destinations and/or Rotations could be made available,
- how pilot seniority is considered when awarding requests for Off-Days, layover destinations and/or Rotations,
- an acceptable request award rate,
- how and over which time-period the workload is distributed evenly and fairly between the Pilots while always managing fatigue,
- how roster stability can be increased.
The Amendment to the Collective Work Agreement can be viewed here. A consolidated online version of the CWA reflecting these amendments is available for download here.
As communicated earlier, until now we had no influence on the rostering process, since it was simply not covered by the CWA. This amendment is a big achievement towards a permanent involvement of Pilot Representatives in defining the parameters of the PBS in the future.
Given the importance rostering has for each pilot, we concluded finding an agreement with the Company sooner than later would be the only reliable way to have your interests in this important topic represented. The other option would have been to address this issue in the next CWA negotiations, which would most likely not be concluded before the end of next year.
Keep in mind that this article does not provide an instant solution for the current rostering issues, as it is a very complex matter. We need to collect solid data to identify the exact areas where improvement is needed before we can start working on an actual solution. To get the most accurate data, we urge all of you to fill out the PBS survey, which we publish each month after roster publication. This will help us to act in your best interest.
