Cargolux

On 18 October 2018 the 3^rd meeting with management took place. After management´s “thorough” analysis of the union claims over the last couple of months that included asking for clarification on certain points to “fully understand” our underlying motives for such claims, they provided a single package offer. This offer has now revealed managements true underlying intentions, which after even a short review shows that there is a very large gap between the two positions.

It was our hope to have provided you with better news, but the fact remains that the negotiations process itself lead by the management team lacks in our opinion constructive guidance. A lot of time has been wasted so we again have proposed blocks of negotiation dates and a clearer timeline for future meetings.

The unions have provided two dates to management in hope that we can progress more effectively. Again, considering the very wide gap between our positions, we see these negotiations are not on a healthy path.

On 26 September 2018 finally another negotiation meeting took place. You might remember, the last one was on 5 July – almost 3 months ago. Meetings initially foreseen at the end of July were cancelled and as a consequence the LCGB decided to ask you, our members, to be 100% compliant with your CWA.

The meeting was chaired by the EVP HR, Legal and Compliance. Our EVP, VP Flight Operations and other people from various departments like Maintenance, Global Logistics, HR and Finance complemented the management team.

The main point on the agenda was the impact assessment presentation of the union claims based on the data available to management. A quantification of financial and productivity impact was done where possible with regards to specific claims.

It did not come as a surprise that in this presentation the “tremendous” financial impact of the claims for the company was highlighted. The CFO provided further explanations and assumptions of the future business plan until 2029. It was also stated, that the shareholders are not willing to put more capital into the company and hence all the financial burden will have to be borne by the employees. This is nothing new, we have seen it already in the past with the acquisition of the  B747-8 fleet. In short, management told us that the claims are too expensive and would have a huge adverse impact on the future of the company. On the other hand it was noted, that  management will not be presenting any claims of their own.

Management´s tactic was rather not-constructive, trying to dissect any of the union claims, pretending not to understand the issue or requesting further information. If this was owed to inadequate preparation or just a delay-tactic by management remains to be seen.

In summary we can say, that we are still far from finding any agreement, even from seriously engaging in negotiating. In the last two months management has had time to conduct a full analysis of the union claims and it is unfortunate that there were no written requests for clarification, causing additional delay. The Unions have sent a letter to the CEO, providing their impressions and once again highlighted the importance blocks of negotiation-days as a required prerequisite to initiate an efficient social dialogue. Please click here to read this letter.

In this context we also would like to thank our members for following the ”100% compliance with your CWA” campaign. We know that this campaign may have an adverse effect on your rosters and your private lives, but we need to maintain the pressure so that we achieve the goals you expect from these negotiations!

These goals are:

1. Introduction of flight time limitations within the CWA to include a reasonable buffer, to enhance flight safety and reduce fatigue levels providing a sustainable work environment for us pilots
2. Return to a single standard amongst the pilot group by eliminating the so called “B-scale”
3. Introduce mechanisms to improve roster stability and
4. a salary increase.

Even with Flight Operations Management modest attempts to address some of our concerns – that we have been expressing for quite some time now – only backing up existing FTLs with block-time limitations and rostering-buffers will ensure a safe and yet, sustainable operation!

In recent members updates we informed you about changes in the new regulations concerning the pilot scheme of the SwissLife Supplementary Pension Scheme. After consulting our lawyer a letter was sent to management informing them about these grievances in late August 2018.

In the Comite Mixte meeting on 27 September 2018, the company together with several SwissLife representatives admitted, that some of the changes indeed were to the detriment of the employees.

The CEO of Cargolux stated that management never intended any of these changes and presented a written statement, signed by the CEO of SwissLife, stating that all changes that were not beneficial to the employees will be reversed with immediate effect. Please click here to read this letter.

Furthermore it was agreed that SwissLife will collectively work with representatives of Cargolux and the ALPL Pension Committee on the proposed modifications to the contract, ensuring that any changes will not disadvantage the employees, but rather be made to their benefit.

We would like to thank everyone, who gave us feedback on this subject and made us aware of the problem. This way we were able to act on it quickly.

Please find below an update on:

• Swiss Life – Cargolux Supplementary Pension Scheme
• Cargolux FRM Survey
• FSAG Partial Implementation of Recommendations
• Peer to Peer Support Program at Cargolux

Swiss Life – Cargolux Supplementary Pension Scheme
Many of you have sent us numerous reports about irregularities regarding Swiss-Life pension payments. These included reports from members that payments were late and personal contributions were withheld. On receiving an email from payroll that there was a new platform and finally the payments were being made, further investigating we found additional irregularities. This included and is not limited to such items as non-permissible (under the Luxembourg Law) unilaterally altering the contract-policy to the disadvantage of the employee.

Consulting our legal counsel where ALPL’s Pension Committee outlined the changes, a letter was sent to management informing them that if they do not address these grievances within seven days we will lodge a court proceeding. Management’s lawyer responded within the timeline by indicating that they were not aware of any disadvantage to the pilot group. They requested that we outline the grievances which is being communicated as this update is being published. If necessary in a next step our lawyer will bring the issue before a court in Luxembourg.

Management’s behaviour has clearly shown that they do not use the proper channels of social dialogue and moreover its path of cost cutting continues no matter the outcome for employees; Instead of addressing pressing issues (pilot shortage, pension payments, work and life balance, etc.) they simply brush aside any concerns voiced by their employees and only move if they are forced to. This -again- gives us an outlook of what can be expected with regards to the CWA negotiations.

Cargolux Fatigue Risk Management (FRM) Survey
It comes as no surprise that the results highlighted what all of you as members have been saying for so long. The issue is that Flight Operations management ignores the facts and uses the new EASA FTL Regulations as the planning limits to be ‘compliant’. Disregarding the overarching requirement to manage fatigue within the EASA regulations has been a concern in discussions with management and the authorities (DAC-L and EASA).

In fact, when EASA inspected Europe’s national aviation authorities in 2017/18, 75% failed the standardisation audit. It has become obvious that the burden has been placed on crew members to report unfit to fly due to the regulations not being fit for purpose in an operation such as Cargolux.

FSAG – Partial Implementation of Recommendations
At the FSAG meeting held on 13 September 2018, Flight Operations informed the stakeholders that numerous augmented flight duty periods (FDP) will be altered to reduce the long-augmented two sector operation, thereby having intermediate crew rest at destinations such as OVB and GYD. The indicated FDPs will be in effect in roster period 11 that was published on 17 September 2018.

While this is certainly welcome news after more than one year’s delay in the implementation of this recommendation which has been requested by the FSAG, it will have to be closely monitored. The reason for the scepticism is that no mechanisms have been put in place to ensure these FDP are flown as planned and not changed back to long-augmented two sector flights in the daily operation by crew control. The ALPL FSAG members have drafted a Position Paper on this process that was recently sent to the Accountable Manager, Flight Operations Management and the DAC-L.

The other recommendation that remains and will remain an enormous issue, are the FDPs that operate to and through ANC. The recommendation to limit the FDP to 10 hours has been postponed despite the fact that this is a fatigue hotspot for a standard crew.

On the positive side, we would like to thank all pilots who remain vigilant in accurately reporting fatigue retroactively and potential fatigue proactively. It is a large effort to document this information which is very necessary as you, the pilots on the line, are the real data source.

We would like to encourage you to remain vigilant and keep sending in these reports, without them change would not have occurred as management could have stated ‘there is no fatigue as there are no reports’. On this note please do report when you have had the necessity to take a rest in the cockpit that is more than 30-40 minutes. These events need to be recorded to collect the information of any additional hotspots. The data sent via an ASR/Fatigue Report remains confidential.

Peer to Peer Support Program (PSP)
We would like to congratulate the 6 colleagues that you nominated to be your peers in case you ever need the support that this program will provide. As indicated by Gunnar Steinhardt, there are additional administrative steps to be completed so that Cargolux will have a fully functioning PSP (e.g. DAC approval process). This will include that all Cargolux Pilots will be able to receive support from the 6 nominated peers in house or from any of the more than 290 trained peers within the Mayday Foundation network knowing that confidentiality will be maintained as a priority.

We ask that you remain patient while the PSP is fully implemented at Cargolux. We are working closely with management to ensure the PSP fulfils that requirements of the partnership with Mayday Foundation. For more information please view Stiftung Maydays website http://english.stiftung-mayday.de.

We would like to give you a brief update on “100% compliance with your CWA” and highlight once again the reasons why we have been asked by the LCGB to strictly adhere to the CWA.

It has been our intention from the beginning to conclude the CWA negotiations as quickly as possible. The decision of management to cancel the negotiation meetings in July and not to provide any alternate dates is in no way helpful to achieve this objective and moreover indicates what we have experienced during the negotiations in 2015 – a time delaying tactic by management.

Consequently, the LCGB asked for “100% compliance with your CWA” already on 14 August 2018. After carefully evaluating all the arguments, the LCGB and OGBL then also decided to jointly repudiate the CWA on 31 August 2018, which simply is the first legally recognized step in a negotiation process Unions must follow to protect the employee’s rights.

For now, the repudiation of the CWA changes absolutely nothing. The CWA will remain in force until 01 August 2019, at the latest, and is fully applicable until a new agreement is found, if necessary through conciliation.

Meanwhile, the CEO proposed the 26 September 2018 for the next negotiation meeting.

The “100% compliance with your CWA” policy is and remains in full force until considerable progress in the negotiations are achieved. We are aware that this may affect your rosters and your private lives further, however we need to maintain the pressure and invest the extra effort, so that we achieve the goals you expect from these negotiations. It is now more important than ever to unite and we want to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support!

Please take the time and follow this link to once again read the published guidelines on “100% compliance with your CWA”.

Only if we stand united we are strong – now and in the future!

The LCGB, ALPL and in consultation with our lawyer discussed with the OGBL the merit of cancelling the current Collective Work Agreement (CWA). After carefully evaluating all the arguments, the LCGB and OGBL decided to jointly repudiate the CWA according to Article L.162-10 of the Labor Code as well as Article 3 of the CWA.

Please click here to read the official letter, which was sent to the CEO on 31 August 2018.

This means, that the present CWA will continue to be applicable until 1 August 2019 or until a new agreement is signed, if earlier.

It is promising to see an overwhelming participation in the “100% compliance with your CWA” campaign and to receive good feedback from the line.

The true effects of this campaign may not be obvious by only looking at the flight movement screen, but it is definitely making an impact. We have been informed about noticeable network disruptions due to lack of crews and that some flights already had to be cancelled. Something that does not come unexpected as management is still relying on the flexibility of us pilots. They continue to plan to the “legal limits” expecting crews to use discretion while crew numbers remain unrealistically low.

Recently the ALPL Board was informed about intimidating emails from crew control to crew members who had requested additional rest or reported unfit for a FDP, not only within the scope of the CWA but even according to the OM-A. By doing so, trying to question a crew members decision based on safety, certain individuals definitely exceeded their authority and possibly made themselves and the company subject to legal proceedings.

If you experience such a discussion with crew control, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at cvboard@alpl.lu, so we can assist you. We also 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.

So far, no new dates have been scheduled for the CWA negotiations, which underlines again that things will not change overnight and that it will take time to achieve our goals. Don’t forget what we have been communicating already since May this year:

• Don’t take things for granted! Just because we are seeing a record production and 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. 

As things develop we will let you know.

Please find below an update concerning:

• Contract Captains
• SwissLife
• Rostering
• Back-to-Back operation and
• FFOD Agreement

Contract Captains
Many of you pointed out the advertisement that surfaced from a contracting agency about “Direct Entry” Captains. On 13 August 2018 the president of the LCGB, Mr. Patrick Dury together with Pilot Representatives attended a meeting with the CEO, EVP Flight Operations and the Chief Pilot.

The discussion was focused on the letter that the LCGB sent to management on 03 July 2018 requesting why Cargolux management is going down this path.

Management stated that they intend to hire 5 of these pilots through an agency and that they will not be employed directly with Cargolux on a time limited contract. It was also mentioned that Cargolux has always relied on Contract Captains and that the amount of these captains today is far less than in the past.

Management continued to state that certain aspects of the operation are difficult to plan and only could be covered by means of hiring such Contract Captains; The mentioned reasons are:

• Long term sickness
• An increased interest in parental leave
• Delegation duties for Pilot Representatives and
• Limited training capacity

At least two of these reasons are not supportable from our point of view. In fact when challenged what the current sick rate was, it was not able to be revealed. Furthermore, the limited training capacity is also caused due to mainly newly hired pilots leaving the company. This turnover has been the highest in the history of Cargolux.

In conclusion, as ALPL we do not support the use of Contract Captains and have made this very clear to management. The situation internally at Cargolux has to be rectified where the attrition of pilots is halted to enable the more than qualified First Officers to be trained as Captains.

We would also like to thank the President of the LCGB, Mr. Patrick Dury for being available to attend this meeting.

Swiss Life
On 31 July 2018 you have received the new regulations concerning the pilot scheme of the SwissLife Supplementary Pension Scheme from Payroll Department.

Whereas at first glance not much seemed to have changed, after carefully reading the document, the ALPL Pension Committee raised serious concerns in regard to the changed wording in the “Benefits in case of disability” part of the scheme, which could have a serious negative impact compared to the old scheme in case a pilot loses his/her medical fitness.

Therefore, we will seek legal advice whether our concerns are justified as well as if such a modification is legitimate since it is to the detriment of the employee. Once we have more information we will pass this on.

Rostering
Most of you certainly do experience the effects of disruptive rostering. With the imminent high season 2018 approaching and still not having enough crews to cover the flights, the impact on fatigue will potentially cause additional delays due to the requirement for you as crew to have additional recovery time.

Therefore, we ask you to carefully assess every FDP in regards to fatigue and once again would like to remind you that every pilot suffering or potentially suffering from fatigue must file a Fatigue Report whether it is reactive or proactive.

Proactive fatigue reports should be written if you advise crew control for the need of additional rest due to delays or changes which are disruptive and may potentially impact your next duty or series of duties. If you need guidance, you can find information on the ALPL website, or send an email to cvboard@alpl.lu.

If you do send a delay request to crewcontrol@cargolux.com, please copy in the station, which you are departing from;  e.g. IAH, iahops@cargolux.com and opscrtl@cargolux.com (Dispatch) so they are able to coordinate.

Please use the iQSMS application to submit fatigue reports. When entering the data be as accurate and as complete as possible. You can click here for additional guidance.

Furthermore, according to OM-A Chapter 11, Section 2, it is mandatory to submit an ASR if the fatigue you experienced impacted or could have potentially impacted your ability to perform your flight duties safely.

Back-to-Back Operation
Recently we received several reports of pilots who were scheduled for a Back-to-Back rotation and had issues with the legally required hotel accommodation in Luxembourg.

Either, the Company did not fulfil their obligation to schedule a suitable accommodation in Luxembourg or the room was not ready in time or simply inadequate to obtain sufficient preflight rest due to various issues, such as noise, construction works or lack of air-conditioning.

In cases like this we would like to highlight the ultimate responsibility of the individual crew member to report for a flight duty sufficiently rested. Should there be any doubt about your level of alertness due to an insufficient rest period before, it is your obligation to request as much as additional rest you need to accept the next flight duty.

Unfortunately the burden -once again- lies with the individual pilot. If there is any need for help how to proceed in such cases, you are welcome to contact us for advice. Please also make yourselves familiar with ALPL’s guidelines on the use of Back-to-Back operations to assist in lessening the disruptive nature of our current operation.

FFOD Agreement
One element to improve the roster stability is the FFOD agreement that was signed and ratified by the Unions and Cargolux Management in April 2018. We would like to remind you to check your rosters from period 1 until period 10 whether you have received the correct number of FFOD blocks as foreseen in the agreement. Please click here to check your entitlement as per the FFOD agreement.

With immediate effect the LCGB asks you to be 100% compliant with your CWA!

Please click here to download some important guidelines!

It is with regret to see that Cargolux management doesn’t place the negotiations for a new CWA at a high priority as initially communicated. After the cancellation of the two meetings foreseen on 26 July and 31 July 2018, the CEO sent another letter to the Unions stating that management would only be willing to recommence the meetings once they have done a thorough analysis.

Despite the CEO’s reiteration and willingness for efficient and smooth negotiations in a timely manner, this latest move can clearly be seen as a delay tactic – something we have experienced before during the course of previous CWA negotiations.

Since management is so focused on analysis now, it would be very helpful if they have a true and accurate measurement of real costs when the CWA is strictly followed. Extra availability and other deals only distorts the picture and management might assume giving 150% effort continuously as the baseline norm. Therefore, the LCGB asks you for “100% compliance with your CWA”.

We trust that you understand the scope of this time limited action until at least a significant progress in the negotiations for a new CWA has been achieved.

It is now your chance  to act in order to show management the resolve of the Cargolux pilots. Only by staying united we will be able to achieve the best result for all of you!

Paul De Araujo
LCGB Union Secretary