Cargolux

After several negotiation meetings with management over the past few months (the latest one held on June 13th, 2019) there are still large gaps between the parties’ positions concerning the key claims for both ground staff and pilots.

Since the start of the conciliation process in February this year, we were able to find compromise on some items, but finally had to come to the conclusion that management is either unwilling to close the remaining gaps or does not have a sufficient mandate from the Cargolux shareholders.

The unions will now ask for a meeting with the national conciliation office (ONC) as a final opportunity to reach an agreement or after which point a non-conciliation may be declared after consultation with the members.

At this point, we are still not able to go into details regarding the claims but can touch on the major items where we are stuck:

• Removal of the “B-Scale” (added Time Units, vacation spool-up, career progression including horizontal move when upgraded to Captain)
• Flight time limitations (when to augment and how to augment)
• Cargolux-Italia matter
• Improvement of the off-day scheme with acceptable rules that provide increased roster stability
• Notwithstanding any legal index increase, ground staff has not received a salary increase for 13 years and pilots for 17 years

There will be more information following very soon to let everyone know how to support the continuing efforts of your negotiation teams in order to deliver sustainable CWA conditions.

Both Unions recently published a video providing some information about the ongoing CWA negotiations.

Please click on the image belowto directly viewthis video. This video complements the “Special Debrief” published on 05 June 2019

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.