Cargolux

Recently we have been approached by Flight Operations Management with the request to apply CWA article 36.6.4.3.1 “Deviations for scheduled Operations” on certain flights and to schedule these flights with 1 Captain and 3 First Officers instead of 2 Captains and 2 First Officers.

The reasons brought forward for this request are the present and increasing constraints that are put on Cargolux´ operations due to COVID restrictions, especially in China where ground times have been significantly increased and due to many no crew layover stations. This resulted in numerous flights being operated with an augmented or even double crew, requiring a lot of manpower. Due to the current rotation pattern to accommodate serving destinations in China, Cargolux finds itself in a position of being short of Captains in order to maintain its schedule.

In subsequent meetings with the CEO, we explained Management the current difficulties for Cargolux pilots and that the ongoing restrictive conditions have led to a high level of frustration.

Ultimately and after careful consideration of all principles, the following was agreed upon, subject to ratification by our members. 

• Only the BKK-PVG-BKK flights would be affected.
• For every BKK-PVG-BKK shuttle, a premium of 1000€ will be paid to the operating Captain and 650€ to every operating First Officer. This premium is a gross amount and subject to taxes and social security contributions.
• This agreement will be of temporary nature and expires on 31 March 2022, at which point it will be reviewed by both parties. If the company wishes to stop the application of CWA Art. 36.6.4.3.1 and operate these flights again as per CWA Art. 36.6.4.2. at an earlier stage, this agreement can be terminated in writing by sending a letter to the Pilot Representatives.
• Estimated bio-mathematical fatigue values for the complete rotation the Flight Duty Period belongs to have to be within limits.

Please note:
Your vote will be held in strict confidentiality – only the global results will be relayed to Cargolux Management. A simple majority vote will determine an acceptance or rejection of the proposal.

To cast your vote you must follow the link provided in an email sent to your email account registered with the ALPL Office! Should you not have received this email, kindly contact the ALPL Office at office@alpl.lu.u.

The voting deadline is 22:00 UTC on Sunday, 26 September 2021!

Please note that vacation bidding for the 1st Step for the 2022 calendar year closes on Sunday, 19 September 2021.

You can also download the ALPL  Vacation Calendar 2022 and Vacation Calendar 2023 from the ALPL website for your perusal.

For questions regarding the vacation don’t hesitate to send an email to cvboard@alpl.lu.

Some of our members informed us that they have been approached and asked by crew control to deviate from the CWA requirement of a Double Crew (2 Captains and 2 First Officers) and to accept a crew composition of 1 Captain and 3 First Officers on various flights instead. In all known cases, our members insisted that the CWA is followed.
 
We kindly ask you to get in touch with us should you experience the same so that we can verify whether these have been isolated cases or if this is a systematic approach by the company. 
 
Please remember that the last CWA negotiations were very intense and all of us should not deviate from these achievements light-heartedly.   

Please find below an update regarding:

• Salary increase in August 2021
• Reply letters from Management
• PVG Rotations
• Vacation Bidding 2022

Salary increase in August 2021
We would like to inform you that as per the CWA 2020-2022 Art. 38.1., the salaries for all pilots will be increased by 2% as of 1 August 2021. The new salary should be displayed on your monthly pay slip for August 2021 and can be crosschecked with the tables in the CWA.  

Reply letters from Management
A few months ago, we sent some letters to Management concerning certain developments that have been observed by our members and were mentioned in our June 2021 Members Update. We have recently received two reply letters concerning the following:

• Recurrent Extended Rest Recovery Period (RERRP) in BKK
  Some members informed us, that their RERRP was scheduled in BKK, a destination with in-room confinement requirement. It is our position that RERRPs at destinations with in-room confinement are not suitable to recover from a series of duties. Please click on below links to read again the letter that was sent from our side and the reply from Management. In the reply letter numerous attempts of crew control to schedule crews for a RERRP in BKK were not acknowledged. Some were successfully avoided due to the individual crew members intervention, therefore we encourage you to challenge the allocation of RERRP in BKK particularly in regards to the below written subject and letter about the PVG rotations.
  Letter sent to management
  Reply letter concerning RERRP in BKK

• Triplist in PBS
  For obvious reasons the triplist in PBS was removed last year when the COVID pandemic started and the option to bid for trips was suspended. In the meantime, however, the network seems to be more stable, and we see an increased number of repetitive trips. Therefore, a letter to the VP Flight Operations was sent by the Delegation with the request to reintroduce the option to bid for trips in the PBS. Please click on below links to read again the letter that was sent from our side and the reply from Management.
  Letter sent to management
  Reply letter concerning triplist in PBS

PVG Rotations
After the announcement by CPO that the PVG flights will be conducted via BKK, the Pilot Representatives met with ExCom and CPO in order to discuss the current situation.

The CEO informed us, that due to the current Covid procedures in China, a lot of manpower is lost at the airports, so that the ground times increase considerably due to the fact there is much more time required to on- and off-load the aircraft. In fact, ground times of 11 hours and more have been observed recently and it was stated that currently it is impossible to predict turnaround times at PVG.

As PVG is affected the most by the Covid restrictions in China, it was decided by management to fly to PVG from BKK as announced by the CPO in order to be able to finish the FDPs within the limits. Unfortunately, all other airports outside China and relatively in the vicinity of PVG have either no capacity to deal with extra Cargolux flights, are too far away to stay within the max FDP due to extended ground time in PVG or have too stringent layover restrictions. Some rotations into PVG have been cancelled altogether so that  Cargolux is able to continue operations efficiently into PVG.

We communicated our concerns regarding additional layovers in in-room confinement and sent a letter to CPO, where we stipulated strict, transparent scheduling rules regarding the layovers in BKK and the shuttle flights. You can read the letter here.

It was reiterated by management that it is not the intention of the company to have such rotations appear in our operation. Unfortunately, such restrictions are completely outside the control of Cargolux.

Vacation bidding 2022
On 19th August 2021, the two-step vacation bidding process for the year 2022 has started.

To optimize the result of the vacation bidding we would like to remind you of a few points which are important in this context. 

• Vacation planning is an automatic process, and the result is heavily influenced by the input of the individual pilot.
• Especially during popular holiday periods, the rush after limited vacation slots is the greatest, which may affect even pilots with a relatively high seniority.

To increase your individual success rate, we recommend considering the following when placing your bids. 

• Be aware of your relative seniority and request your vacation days accordingly.
• Rather than only requesting the minimum number of blocks for vacation, also place alternative bids. 
• Rather than requesting a vacation block to start on a specific day, indicate a time window when the vacation should start. The system then can shift and trim your request to fit it in the available slots in that period.
• When placing your bids for vacation, do not count on getting your A or B Days allocated attached to a block of vacation days during the year when doing the regular monthly preferential bidding. There is no privilege and guarantee to get this request awarded just because of your vacation days. If there are no slots for off days available in respect to your seniority, the risk is high that you will not get them. It could even happen that a short block of vacation days could be used to cover rest requirements.

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.

Please find below an update regarding:

• Fatigue Reports
• OFF-Day Requests
• Guichet.lu Website

Fatigue Reports
Despite the improvement of the new Flight Time Limitations in the CWA, our flight operation still poses a risk that pilots feel insufficiently rested and unfit to safely perform the next duty or series of duties. In such situations it is of utmost importance not just only to comply with the maximum flight time limitations as per the CWA, but also respect OM-A, Chapter 6, Section 1.

One reason why we emphasize the personal responsibility is the possibility of cumulative fatigue while operating several days in a row. This has not been addressed adequately in the regulations, especially when operating and resting against the body clock.

Please apply a very high and professional standard in determining your capability to safely operate any subsequent flight and remember that you might possibly face a situation where you have to justify your decisions. Therefore, please do not hesitate to ask for more rest should you need it!

As we have indicated in the past, maintaining a sleep log from the beginning of a rotation will assist you in making a professional and informed decision. Also, do not forget to file a proactive Fatigue Report when asking for additional rest, or a reactive Fatigue Report, if you experienced high levels of fatigue during a flight.

We cannot emphasize enough, that Fatigue Reports by pilots are the most valuable and necessary means to feed the Fatigue Risk Management System with realistic data and to justify changes in rotation planning.

Guidance on how to report fatigue can be found on the ALPL website.

OFF-Day Requests
We have received numerous reports from members who experienced that their off-day requests are not granted as often anymore as in previous years. We are aware of the fact that particularly the number 1 priority off-day request is important to our members, and we are in a constructive dialogue with the Management of Crew Planning Department and the Chief Pilot. 

For clarification and a better understanding, we would like to mention the following. 

• In the past, the allocation of almost all off-day requests contributed to numerous changes concerning the Floating Off Days (FOD) in the actual rosters.
• The new CWA includes more fixed off-days (A and B Days) and much stricter rules in regard to how C Days (formerly known as FOD) can be changed once a roster is published. The improved off-day stability hence has an impact on how rosters are produced by crew planning.
• Per calendar day only a certain number of slots for off-days are available. The allocation of owed off-days as per the CWA could further limit the number of available slots.
• Scheduling of training, especially training flights but also ground training is prioritized.
• Off-day requests are processed according to seniority, but if an off-day request results in a significant inefficiency like additional rest or blank days, not only on the individual roster but also for the overall roster solution, this request may be rejected by the system.
• As now a higher level of automation is used, please consider giving the system more flexibility by requesting your off-days with a variable starting date and placing more strategic bids. This could increase the chances for a satisfactory result. Instead of trips you can also bid for specific destinations. 
• If you see that any training is planned in a period where you would like to request your off-days, please contact crew planning well in advance to give them time to reschedule the training.

Over the last couple of months, it became evident that changes in the PBS are urgently required to improve transparency and to increase the individual bid award success rate. As mentioned earlier, we are in a constructive dialogue with the CPO and Crew Planning Department and hope to achieve a significant improvement as quickly as possible.

Guichet.lu Website
We would like to take the opportunity and point to the website guichet.lu. Should you think about taking parental leave for example or if you have questions about retirement, this is a good platform to get first-hand information about the requirements, the application processes, etc. Generally, on this website, you can find detailed information about almost every aspect of the Luxemburgish social system explained in French, German and English.

Nevertheless, please don`t hesitate to contact us on cvboard@alpl.lu anytime, if you have any questions.

Please find below an update concerning:

• Non-compliance with CWA Art. 36.16.2. b)
• Letters sent to management
• Cure

Non-compliance with CWA Art. 36.16.2. b)
It has been brought to our attention by several pilots that, after helping the company and operating out of or into their OFF-days, crew-planning disregarded CWA 36.16.2. b) alt. 2. 

This provision states that in case the pilot opts for a 2 for 1 compensation, the OFF-days owed must be attached to the A-Days in the next unpublished roster. However, recently crew-planning stated that “In light of multiple restrictions (…) an internal working procedure for 2for1/Selling days was set last year by HR (…)” and that “a notice of 3 working days prior to roster publication” is required to accommodate such request. 

It is our position that the CWA in this context does not give any leeway for interpretation and that any amendment of the CWA requires the consent of all parties involved. Hence, we will not accept any unilaterally introduced procedure affecting the CWA and already asked the Unions and the Delegation to take appropriate action. 

Attached please find the latest communication by the LCGB to the CEO regarding this matter, including the reply from the EVP Flight Operations. We will discuss the next steps with the Unions.

Letter Unions
Letter reply

Letters sent to management
In recent months we have seen some developments at Cargolux that required more attention and action from our side. These are in particular:

Increased amount of computer-based training (CBT)
More training courses than in the past have been enrolled on Pelesys. To check whether this is still covered by the CWA, a letter was sent to Human Resources by the Delegation. Please click on the link below to read the letter. So far, we are still waiting for a reply.

Letter CBT

Recurrent Extended Rest Recovery Period (RERRP) in BKK
Some members informed us, that their RERRP was scheduled in BKK, a destination with in-room confinement requirement. It is our position that RERRPs at destinations with in-room confinement are not suitable to recover from a series of duties. A letter in this context was sent to the EVP Flight Operations. The reply is still pending.  

Letter RERRP

Triplist in PBS
For obvious reasons the triplist in PBS was removed last year when the COVID pandemic started and the option to bid for trips was suspended. In the meantime, however, the network seems to be more stable, and we see an increased number of repetitive trips. Therefore, a letter to the VP Flight Operations was sent by the Delegation with the request to reintroduce the option to bid for trips in the PBS. We are still waiting for the reply.

Letter PBS

Vaccinations in ANC
Some members suggested to speed up the vaccination process and to schedule flights to ANC with the appropriate rest period there in order to have the chance to get vaccinated in ANC. This was taken up by the Delegation and a letter concerning this topic was sent to the CEO recently. Please click on blow links to read the letter, including the reply.

Letter vaccinations ANC
Letter reply

Cure
As we are living in the second year of extreme stress and unprecedented changes and restrictions in our work, we can see the toll it has on us and our health.

For employees insured with the CNS there is the option of applying for a cure under certain conditions.

E.g. after you passed the age of 50 or you have certain health restrictions you are entitled to it. The most common place for that in Luxembourg is Mondorf Les Bains. Please click here for further information.

Without any doubt the Cargolux staff played an important role in achieving the unmatched financial result for the year 2020, which turned out to be the record year for Cargolux resulting in a record profit. Consequently, and as agreed in the Collective Work Agreement (CWA) the employees covered by the CWA are entitled to a profit share payment.
 
Following different opinions on how the profit share gross amount to be paid out to each employee should be calculated, Unions and Cargolux Management met in order to clarify how this calculation should be done. In this meeting the social partners agreed on the methodology of the profit-sharing calculation, solving their diverging opinion in the interest of the employees.
 
On 28 May 2021 an amendment to the CWA was concluded, which clarifies that the employer’s contributions to the social security system are paid by the company and not by the employees. Additionally, the amendment clarifies that the exchange rate to calculate the portion of the Profit-sharing an employee obtains in Euro, is the reporting date spot rate as disclosed in the company’s audited annual financial statements. This calculation is necessary as the company’s accounts are calculated in US Dollar while the individual profit share amount paid out is in Euro.
 
The amendment to the CWA will replace Art. 13.4.2 of the CWA signed on 05 August 2019, providing the employees covered by the CWA with the needed certainty how the profit share due for 2020 is calculated. Additionally, this amendment will provide the same clarity for any possible profit share payments which may become applicable for the years 2021 and 2022.
 
Art. 13.4.2 of the CWA defines the Qualifying Profit Before Tax (QPBT) as the consolidated profit before tax, excluding all capital gains/losses on sale of assets, and all items or losses of an extraordinary nature (i.e. not in the ordinary course of the business), but including profits or losses arising from forex exchange movements and “market to market” movements of the Company’s hedge portfolio, as disclosed in the company’s audited annual financial statements. This statement is available on the RCS webpage. Due to the Amendment of the CWA after the finalization of the 2020 accounts for the 2020 calculation, the employer’s social security contributions applicable to the profit-sharing need to be deducted separately from the QPBT, which is not yet indicated in the audited annual financial statement for 2020 but should be approximately 1,3% less than what is presently stated.
 
The number of employees is expressed in full time equivalent (FTE) considering the total number of worldwide employees on the company’s payroll with exception of exempt employees and managerial staff. Part time employees will be taken into account on a pro-rata basis. Resulting in 1854 FTE for calculation of the profit share to be paid to each employee.
 
As already explained above, to calculate the profit share amount to be paid out in Euro, the reporting date spot rate as disclosed in the company’s audited annual financial statements is used.
 
The profit share due is then calculated using the formula in Art. 13.4.1 of the CWA. Please note that for the calculation the full amounts in US Dollar including cents have been used while the amounts shown in financial statement only indicate thousands of US Dollar omitting hundreds and cents.