Cargolux Board

Please find below an update regarding:

• SwissLife Supplementary Pension
• Hotels
• Compliance with CWA 

SwissLife Supplementary Pension
Cargolux signed a new coordinated version of the Regulations of the Supplementary Pension and Death and Disability Insurance Scheme.

After consulting ALPL Pilot Representatives and the Delegation all parties involved agreed on changes within the Pension Scheme for all Cargolux staff in effect immediately.

Following improvements for us pilots are part of the new contract:

• Part-time clause is now included to clearly stipulate how the percentage of part-time is affecting the company’s contributions (Article 5.2.2.).
• Loss of revenue clause included to avoid recalculation of the disability pension in case of an Index increase (Article 16.4.).
• New wording to clarify the situation for pilots who are reclassified as ground staff (Article 18.1.)
• New clause to clarify that the Affiliate is entitled to the Pension payment at age 60 regardless if s/he continues working or not. (Article 19.1.).
• 3 year vesting period after joining the scheme instead of 10 years (Endorsement Nr.1)
• Switches on funds at any time free of charge. (Appendix 2)
• No more fees on personal contributions. (Appendix 2)
• New online platform (Appendix 2)
  • Beneficiary form – to be filled out online (no need to pass by HR)
  • “Let me do it” investment strategy (actual) including additional investment funds (still at Banque de Luxembourg)
  • “Conservative Lifecycle” investment strategy, where the investments will be split up in reference with your age (lower age -> more risky funds  => to higher age -> saver funds). Please be aware that once you have chosen the “Conservative Lifecycle” strategy, all your existing investments will be switched to the relative funds relating to your age!

Please click here to download a copy of the new Pension Scheme and the Endorsements applicable to it.

Hotels
In the recent Hotel Committee meeting on 23 April 2019, the outstanding hotel issues were raised. On a positive note we would like to confirm that the hotel at GIG is not the airport hotel anymore.

In LUX, we find that some crews are being placed at hotels that are not approved as suitable accommodation as per our hotel policy. It was clearly stated in this meeting, that the use of the Ibis Hotel is not approved and that we will communicate this to you, our members.

If you are confronted with this hotel, please advise Crew Control that the scheduled hotel should either be the Double Tree or the NH Hotel. The NH will soon be commencing renovations and we are searching for suitable hotels to replace the NH and to be used in conjunction with the Double Tree.

As part of the Hotel Committee agenda, we will review the Voyage Reports (VR) that you submit indicating deficiencies in the hotels. Please take the time to submit accurate and factual reports so that we can address these issues. Please also read the checklist, which is attached to the Hotel Policy, that the Hotel Committee uses when reviewing hotels.

On your iPad you will see in the “Station Information”, information of all the hotels at those destinations. Within that paragraph the benefits as per the signed hotel contract is mentioned. Again, if there are any deficiencies please send a VR via the iQSMS and you can also send the reports to hotel@alpl.lu.

Jakarta is the new destination that is being planned and while security and all operational facilities have been investigated, we are expecting that members of the Hotel Committee will be at this destination to review suitable hotels for our layovers to ensure all qualities are considered.

We will do our best to ensure the quality and benefits remain at the standard we expect, and we count on your support to highlight, via written reports, the problematic areas.

Compliance with CWA
In the last couple of weeks and months we were faced with an increased number of cases, where the CWA was differently applied than it should actually have been.

One area is the compensation for coming home late into a RBO before the COD or VAC. The respective text in the CWA is clear and does not leave room for interpretation and it is beyond our comprehension how and why this happens.

It goes without saying that this kind of behavior does a lot of damage to the morale and motivation of the employees and cannot be accepted. 

In recent meetings with the CPO, we also discussed this topic and after having jointly resolved some cases, we will continue to aim at improving the relationship between crew control and the pilot community. 

We ask you to carefully check the “Know your CWA” editions to be familiar with your CWA and urge you to get in touch with us should you find yourself in a situation with crew control where you think the CWA is not respected.

On 15 April 2019 the Cargolux Ordinary Divisional Assembly took place. One topic on the agenda was the election of a new ALPL Divisional Board after the regular two-year term.

After serving four and respectively two consecutive years on the ALPL Cargolux Divisional Board, George Karambilas and Xavier Nolf have decided not to stand for re-election. We whole hearty thank George and Xavier for their dedicated work throughout the past years, representing the interests of us Cargolux pilots in difficult and challenging times.

Whilst Xavier decided to take a break and focus on different things, George will continue his work within the association as chairman of the Hotel Committee and member of the FSAG. In addition he is the president of the Cargolux Staff Delegation. On behalf of all members the newly elected Cargolux Divisional Board wishes them all the best.

The new Divisional Board consists of the following board members:

We are pleased that Luka, Olle and Johannes decided to put their names onto the candidates list for the election and to actively get involved in the future work, which resulted in having 8 candidates for 7 positions within the board. In this regard we would like to thank Peter Bauer for also being a candidate and his preparedness to continue to be a board member.

We are confident to have the right team – a good mix of experience and fresh new ideas – to deal with current and also future challenges backed up by you, our members.

Thank you very much for your continued support!

The CWA negotiations took place on April 8th and 11th, representing the second round of discussions since the CEO joined these talks. In this regard we see a genuine commitment to avoid delays.

We would like to keep everyone informed about the progress, however there is actually not much to say at this point. There was hope for significant movement towards our claims but in reality, there remains a significant gap between the respective positions on the most important items. Some CWA text changes were presented, and we requested counterproposals from management.

All parties now have a bit of homework in preparation for the next meetings which are now scheduled on 26th and 30th of April.

On Tuesday, 09 April 2019, the constituent meeting of the Delegation took place. The agenda was to fill the different positions by electing delegates into various functions.

The results are as follows:

President:
George Karambilas (LCGB)

Vice – President:
Dirk Becker (LCGB)

Secretary:
Michael Kaiser (LCGB)

Equality Delegate:
Marie-Louise Kemp (SEA)

Health and Safety Delegate:
Laurent Belener (SEA)

In addition to the above, Luka Rasmusen (LCGB), Peter Schuster-Woldan (LCGB) and Yves Hendel (SEA) were unanimously nominated to fill three positions in the Board of the Delegation.

Together with the effective and substitute delegates we will make sure that the interests of all Cargolux employees will be represented during our mandate for the next five years.

The newly elected delegates will meet for their first meeting on April 9th.

In this meeting the delegates will elect amongst them the president, vice president, secretary and the members of the office of the delegation. Additionally the delegates will elect the safety and equality delegates.

Your Board and all those who were involved in the election campaign would like to thank you once again for your support and more important to do whatever was needed to cast your votes. As pilots we have to rely on the postal voting procedure, which in its current form is certainly not perfect and should be revised. However our members managed again to make the best out of it.

Special thanks go to all candidates, elected effective and substitutes and also to those who have not been elected. Without a full list of 32 candidates the success in this election would have not been possible.

More information will be published after the first meeting.

Please find below an update regarding:

• 100% compliance with your CWA
• Fatigue Alerts
• Social Security Payments – Part Time
• STBY replaced by FDP

100% compliance with your CWA
After the pretty intense start into the year with the delegation election scheduled on March 12^th, we are now back in negotiation mode.

On 14^th February 2019 we successfully started the conciliation process at the ONC, which elevated the whole negotiations to the next level. This and the great result of the delegation election, despite not final yet as they could be contested until 1^stApril 2019, is a clear signal towards management that changes in the new CWA are required.

Whereas this alone will not result in improvements, we highly recommend continuing to follow the published guidelines on “100% compliance with your CWA”, which you can download here, should you not have done so yet.

Don’t forget what we have been communicating already since May 2018:

• Don’t take things for granted! Just because we are seeing record profits and management struggling to attract and to retain enough pilots, it is not going to be easy to improve the CWA. We will have to fight!
• Expect tough and long negotiations!
• Be mentally prepared and stay united!
• The more effective we are as individuals and as a united group, the better the outcome will be of a sustainable CWA!
• Support your representatives and negotiation team, especially when they ask you to do so!
• Finally, if you are approached by management asking your thoughts on the CWA, just reply “My representatives have my full support to negotiate the listed claims”!

We do want to take this opportunity and thank you for your tremendous support and unity! Please continue with “100% compliance with your CWA” until further notice. 

Fatigue Alerts
The number of fatigue alerts that pilots are receiving have declined. In the FSAG it was agreed that delaying a flight solely based on the fatigue alert from the mathematical model, without input from the crew-member, may actually disrupt the pilots planned sleep pattern. It was therefore decided that the flight would only be delayed for additional rest at the express request of the affected crew-member.

A proposed new message from crew control to the affected pilot has been drafted which will ask that pilots to proactively advise if they wish additional rest after receiving a fatigue alert.

We were recently made aware about cases where pilots received a fatigue alert only a few hours before their wake-up call. This will be addressed at the next FSAG meeting. Please note that in these cases, even at this late stage, you can ask for more rest, should you think it is necessary.

We would like to remind every member that each pilot must understand the potential implications of accepting a flight that the mathematical model has flagged as a potential fatigue concern. Especially considering that the data collected in the flight safety department indicates that the mathematical model used by Cargolux underestimates the fatigue score, predominantly at the higher levels of fatigue.

It remains our position that in case you receive a fatigue alert, we strongly suggest applying a very high and professional standard determining your capability to safely operate any subsequent flight. Please remember that you possibly might face a situation where you have to justify your decisions!

As we have indicated in the past, maintaining a sleep log will assist you in making the professional decision. Also, do not forget to file a proactive Fatigue Report when asking for additional rest.

Please click here for additional guidance on how to write a proactive Fatigue Report. If you need further assistance don’t hesitate to get in touch with us via cvboard@alpl.lu

Social Security Payments – Part Time
Once a year around August, every employee receives a printout sent by mail from the “Centre Commun de la Securite Sociale”(CCSS) where the number of months is shown during which social security contributions have been paid by the individual.

Due to the fact, that we as pilots do not have normal working patterns, it happened that the pension contributions have been calculated and submitted wrongly in cases, where pilots where on “one roster off” permanent part time.

In such cases, the document from the administration shows only 11 months of pension contributions instead of the correct 12. Therefore, if you are on 1 or more rosters off permanent part time, we recommend checking the document which you have received from the CCSS and – if it shows or you think it shows the wrong information – get in contact with the payroll department.

Payroll department is already aware of the problem and they will submit the correct number of working hours to the CCSS, after you have sent the printout to them. You then should receive a new document with the correct amount of social security contributions from the CCSS.

STBY Duty replaced by FDP
There have been cases, where pilots on a STBY duty received a flight, which was scheduled to leave outside the time period of their STBY duty on the same day.

It is our position, that this kind of rostering is not endorsed and that, if the STBY duty is replaced by a FDP, the FDP must start within the original STBY duty period. Otherwise it is not possible to plan the rest in advance, which is a requirement according to the OM-A and the awake time would be too long.

EASA also guards against a combination of STBY and a FDP that would exceed 18 hours of wakefulness.

Please contact us, if you are encountering a situation like this.

Whilst this has been a busy start to 2019 as we engage with many items, we are pleased that the Peer Support Program (PSP) at Cargolux has been implemented ahead of the regulatory requirement of August 2020. As pilot representatives we initiated the process within Cargolux and have been involved from the beginning internally and at many external forums together with European Cockpit Association (ECA).

The PSP is there to support all crew members in case of any issues that may be perceived as stressful either from flight operations or personal issues.

One key element is that this program is independent of Cargolux operations where the support is activated solely by you through Stiftung Mayday. This ensure confidentiality when you require support, it is only one phone call away where you will be directed to a Peer either from one of six (6) Cargolux trained peers or someone independent from Cargolux altogether.

Over the past 12 months there has been regular communications outlining what PSP is and how it there to support you. In order to facilitate a better understanding a new folder in the Content Locker on our iPads has been opened (folder 23. Pilot Peer Support) with all relevant documents including FAQ’s that may assist you on how PSP works.

Please take the time to review this information and if you have any questions please contact safety@alpl.lu or Gunnar Steinhardt

If you require peer support, please call the Stiftung Mayday hotline so that your call is handled in a timely manner even if you wish to discuss with one of our internal Peers.