A recording of the Divisional Assembly 2022 is available online at www.alpl.lu. We encourage everyone, who was not able to attend the assembly on 19 April 2022 to watch this screencast.
The main agenda items in this assembly were:
Please click on the image below to view the video.
Over the past two years our operation has been characterized by a sharp increase in augmented crew multisector duties coupled with shorter rest periods at our destinations.
The increase in block hours flown combined with more tightly planned rotations potentially means that we are operating many duties within the WOCL (window of circadian low), resulting in disrupted sleeping patterns with the risk of increased levels of fatigue.
The mental stress factors of in-room confinement, constant roster changes, the potential lack of recovery times at destinations and having to address private life issues due to unfavorable rosters, can also contribute to a reduced quality of sleep.
Cargolux uses a Biomathematical Model (BMM) to predict levels of fatigue which has its limitations. All BMM vendors clearly state that their model only predicts fatigue levels and sleep opportunities for an ‘average’ pilot. Additionally, there is very little data on how the body clock adjusts when we cross the international dateline. More importantly BMM do not take into account disturbances (e.g. noise, turbulences, rooms that cannot be darkened), quality of sleep at a hotel or on an aircraft.
We as pilots are the most important data source of what happens during actual operations. The Fatigue Report is the only effective and confidential means for us pilots to communicate a realistic picture of the operation. The collection of this data is vital in any discussion with management to highlight fatigue “hotspots”, even if scheduling is within legal limits. While your report maybe subjective (i.e. personal), when many pilots are communicating via the confidential reporting system, the same subjective information becomes a collection of many data points and thus objective data.
We would also like to address two concerns that we sometimes hear in connection with Fatigue Reports: “After I sent the fatigue report I did not hear anything and/or nothing changed” and “I am afraid that I will admit to having flown fatigued with a Fatigue Report”.
In regard to the first concern please bear in mind that the safety system in any organization takes a certain amount of time to collect a reasonable number of reports (objective data) to be able to make recommendations to changes for FDP’s and rotations. If insufficient data is received, it is difficult to act on a handful of reports.
Regarding the second concern it is important to understand that suffering fatigue is not a failure of any individual. We are all human and we have difficulties to self-assess when fatigue may occur during a future FDP. If you have done your best to obtain adequate sleep before a duty, or series of duties, and you none-the-less experience fatigue during a flight, it is important that this data is accurately communicated without emotions.
Please click on this link for more information on how to report fatigue or potential fatigue.
We will also post more guidelines and mitigating measures in the future to support this very important safety mechanism.
We want to conclude with a reminder that fatigue reporting not only is defined in EU regulations as a mandatory reportable occurrence, but more importantly is the crucial element in data collection required to bring about changes in our operations where simply complying with FTL’s is insufficient.
Please see below an update regarding:
Falling sick or being quarantined while on a rotation
We have received reports from colleagues who are confronted with a refused compensation for Off-Days according to CWA 36.16 while the pilots either fell sick or had been mandated to be in quarantine while on a rotation. This represents a significant change in how management treats such cases as this never has happened in the past.
It goes without saying that we strongly oppose this disappointing and unfortunate behavior from management, as this could potentially result in pilots being away from home for excessively long times under unacceptable circumstances. Especially regarding the fact that the first in first out principle in BKK is not applied anymore and the risk of having to take PCR tests has increased, this should not be underestimated, and the fitness and health should be carefully assessed before leaving on a trip.
Article 36.16.1 of the CWA clearly states that all off days must be fixed at home base. The consideration of Off-Days to be taken during a rotation while falling sick or having to undergo a quarantine thus poses a clear violation of the above-mentioned article. This has already been communicated to Management in February 2022, without success.
In the meantime, we have involved the Unions who will follow the respective legal steps to tackle this violation and we will keep you informed about any development regarding this issue.
Please also report any attempt to deprive you of your Off-Days to cvboard@alpl.lu.
Non-Compliance of CWA article 36.17.1
We have been informed about the incorrect application of article 36.17.1 of the CWA.
This article specifically defines the compensation a pilot is entitled to in case of a late arrival at home base before a vacation period.
It has come to our attention that the hours from 12.00 local time until going off duty to be compensated according to this article due to the late arrival have been deducted from the pilot´s regular monthly duty overtime, thus reducing his overtime payments.
When this article was discussed in the negotiations, it was agreed that the supplement for overtime is to be applied for the purpose of calculating the compensation to be paid to the pilot as a “fine” for the company.
With management´s deliberate decision to interpret this article in a different way than its original purpose, management creates a scenario where any pilot who already is working for more than 173 duty hours in a roster period and arrives late at home base before a vacation period is de facto not receiving any financial compensation as per article 36.17.1. Or, in other words, the pilot is paying this compensation out of his own pocket.
We have addressed this with management but again unfortunately without any success. The Unions will also take this topic to the next level.
We ask you to get in touch with us should the company not correctly apply the CWA in this context.
Developments regarding the index increase in Luxemburg
Last week, the government met with representatives of employer organizations and the Unions (Tripartite).
In those meetings it was agreed to have only one index increase this year, which most likely will be announced in April 2022.
Before those meetings, the employers lobbied to get rid of the index system which would have affected the salaries of all employees in Luxemburg in the years to come.
The index system in Luxembourg provides a very effective inflation compensation and should any additional index increase become necessary according to the calculations of STATEC in 2022, this increase would be postponed until next year.
As pilots we will benefit from an additional salary increase of 1% effective 01 August 2022 according to the current CWA.
Airline pilots’ employment and working conditions have been the focus of various European studies in the past. While most studies explore how new business models affect crews’ employment terms and conditions, little has been done to map the safety impact stemming from these changes. To fill this gap, this new survey is initiated by the Karolinska Institute – a renowned research-led medical university – aimed at airline pilots from across Europe.
The survey is a part of an ongoing research project on ‘sustainable flight safety’ – linking socioeconomic aspects, health and safety. In an earlier study, called “High flying risks” (2018), Karolinska Institute analysed the link between airline companies’ safety climate, working conditions and flight safety. Today, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to continue and deepen this research.
This survey therefore aims to collect data on European pilots’ employment and working conditions, health/fatigue and experiences regarding flight safety in the ramp-up following the COVID-19 pandemic. Your participation is crucial to gain knowledge of what pilots’ working conditions look like today, and how the work environment and aviation safety can be concretely improved.
The survey will be launched 9 March 2022, and will run for four weeks.
On Sunday 06 March 2022 the CEO approached both Unions with a request to temporarily increase the limit of the number of Captains employed as “travailleur intérimaire” or on short term contracts from 10 to 20 for at least the next 2 years.
Following this urgent request, the Unions met this morning, Tuesday 08 March 2022, with the CEO to discuss how this amendment could possibly be made acceptable for you, our members.
In this meeting the CEO explained that the reason for his request is the ongoing COVID pandemic and the impact of airspace closures caused by the war in Ukraine on the airline’s operation. This would position the company in a situation where management finds it increasingly challenging to fly the normal schedule without significant delays and that profitable charter opportunities could not be considered.
We highlighted in the meeting this morning again, that in particular the pilots are heavily affected by the implications related to the pandemic, e.g., continued in-room confinement, or frequent long duty periods, often resulting in duty periods only be possible to complete applying commander’s discretion. Furthermore, it was explained that the implementation of the Jeppesen Crew Rostering Tool resulted in a lot of frustration within the pilot group deteriorating the morale of the pilot community to an all time low.
As we acknowledge the implications of the ongoing pandemic combined with the added impact of the war in the Ukraine and that the pilots could possibly consider the request, we suggested today’s meeting with the aim to discuss how this request could be made acceptable to our members before we as Board would even consider presenting a possible solution to our members for a vote.
Based on the feedback we received from our members, we presented the following points which we believe would make it acceptable for our members to support the requested amendment:
However, to our disappointment, we had to realize that the CEO was not open to any discussion and categorically refused to consider the above-mentioned points.
In light of the current situation, it is absolutely incomprehensible to us that management totally disregard legitimate concerns and show no willingness at all to mitigate justified hardships that we are meanwhile permanently exposed to. Such an amendment of the CWA that results in being exclusively beneficial for the company is not acceptable to us.
With the upcoming CWA negotiations this should provide us with a good indication what we have to expect in these negotiations.
The latest edition of “Debrief” exclusively covers the change in how our rosters are created. We recommend spending some of your valuable time and to watch this edition.
The recent implementation of the Jeppesen Crew Rostering System by management had a significant impact on the bid award success rate of all of us. With this edition we would like to give you some background information on how the roster are built now versus in the past, why the system will stay in place and what currently is being done to improve the situation including some practical tips on how to adapt to the new system when placing off day requests.
We recommend that you take note of the additional information about the PBS survey results which is available here.
Last year between October and December we conducted a survey in which we asked about your bidding behaviour and the results in the 2022 Two Step Vacation Bidding System and the additional V-Day bidding round.
With this special debrief we would like to present these survey results and give some information about their meaning.
As communicated in the email on 06 January 2022 by Management, the new COVID law implementing 3G at the workplace will come into force on 15 January 2022.
We would like to underscore the importance to adhere to the communicated rules as any misconduct could be handled as a fault grave with the consequence of getting dismissed. Please do not take this light-hearted!
When we discussed the application of the new law with Senior Management already in December, both, Management and Unions brought the question regarding the application of the COVID Check for crews who start their duty outside of the Grand-Duchy to the attention of the government. However, in absence of clear rules in the COVID law of 16 December 2021, Management decided to apply the COVID Check only for duties commencing in Luxembourg, as for this location the rules are clear and the COVID Check is mandatory. We decided to support this decision by Management for the same reason.
Additionally, we welcome the decision of Management to continue offering testing free of charge before leaving on a trip and after arriving back in LUX.
In the ongoing battle against the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of “Omicron”, more and more countries are implementing a mandatory vaccine or are at least discussing it. As communicated in earlier updates, there is international consensus that vaccinations are saving lives and will be key to regain a “normal” life. Therefore, the ALPL Executive and Divisional Boards strongly recommend that every pilot should be vaccinated.
Unfortunately, some local authorities still are very inflexible and strict when it comes to quarantine requirements for crews. The Thai authorities are just one example. Without being able to certify that all crew members on a layover are either vaccinated or recovered, e.g. in BKK, an operator is not allowed to make use of an alternative quarantine hotel. A high vaccination rate, ideally with all pilots vaccinated, would also be a first step to have the quality of our layovers improved.
In this context we would like to remind all to communicate their vaccination status to OHS. While you may believe that the so called “GreenPass” may be of limited value as crew member, it will aid in collecting reliable data which may be useful or even required to gain some relief for us pilots from e.g., the fierce in room confinement in BKK.
Through our survey we do have an indication, that roughly 90% of our members are already vaccinated. We thus would like to ask those who haven’t received a vaccine yet for whatever reason, to re-evaluate their position in this respect.
We are in this together and it needs a great act of solidarity of everyone to achieve the so much desired relief in this pandemic!
Another year comes to an end where we as Cargolux pilots had to operate under difficult COVID-19 conditions. We would like to thank you for your continued support, while your ALPL Board was busy representing your interests!
Obviously, the pandemic also meant additional work for us.
Whilst we were able to fine-tune the CWA by signing 3 agreements with the Company in the year 2021, we were also confronted with issues, which required a quick response from our side. The most recent ones for example being the reintroduction of the CGO layovers or the request by management for a deviation for scheduled operations as per CWA 36.6.4.3 to operate the PVG shuttles with 1 Captain and 3 First Officers. The outcome of the latter was decided by the majority of our members in a vote that led to the refusal of the negotiated deviation.
At the same time the implementation of the new crew scheduling software by the Company as well as the BKK layovers required and still require the constant attention of the Pilot Representatives. Additionally, the Hotel Committee is busy to maintain the quality of the hotels in our network.
These are a few examples of the work that occupied us during this year, and we hope that through communication channels such as the regular member updates, private chats and emails our efforts did not go unnoticed by you.
The continued high ALPL membership rate paired with many discussions and numerous inputs from our fellow colleagues is a clear sign that, although the interests and opinions amongst the pilot group vary, our union culture is intact and alive and the willingness of our fellow members to ultimately get engaged and stay united is strong.
We also hope that you are aware that every member has an impact and can make a difference when it comes to maintaining our working conditions and supporting our representative work.
This will be vital in the future, as it looks like the challenges in connection with the pandemic are not going to disappear any time soon and on top of that the negotiations for a new CWA will commence again next year.
The entire ALPL Cargolux Divisional Board would like to wish you all happy holidays and time to spend with your families and friends during the festive season!
As communicated in the update on the same subject published on 05 November 2021, the issues related to the non-compliance of the crew rest onboard an aircraft during COVID-19 procedure with the CWA was addressed in a letter. Following this letter, we met with Senior Management on Friday, 12 November 2021, to discuss the topic.
We can confirm that the issue has been solved!
In that meeting it was confirmed by the CEO and the EVP Flight Operation, that:
Additionally, the Minimum Rest Period following such an “unplanned onboard layover” shall be as long as the previous Duty Period, counting from the Reporting Time for the Flight Duty Period immediately preceding the “unplanned on board layover” until the end of the Duty Period immediately following the “unplanned on board layover”.
This is fully in line with thereply we received from the DAC [link].Management confirmed in this meeting that for all previous duties during which the “unplanned onboard layover” was applied, the Duty Hours would be corrected and payments of supplements and/or overtime if applicable would be adjusted accordingly. Please note that for a pilot who had access to a bunk the time spent resting while applying the procedure will not be reflected as Duty Time on the Crew Duty Sheet as such but will be considered in full by the Payroll Department.
At this time Management could not confirm until when the required correction would be done and reflected on the payslip of the pilots concerned. We recommend that you check your future pay slips and Duty Sheets.
