Cargolux

As communicated to you already in earlier updates, fatigue warnings, being received from crew control, are based on a mathematical model and trigger when the calculated alertness level exceed a predefined score. In fact, the actual alertness level could be higher or lower, depending on the real condition of the individual.

Statements made in the past in the “Boxed Items” flight safety publication that any pilot who received a fatigue warning by crew control and who operates a flight in spite of a previous fatigue warning will not face any “punishable action in case an incident or accident occurs after crew control has warned of potential fatigue” cannot remain uncommented from our side.

In fact, such statements create misunderstandings in the chain of responsibilities and underestimate any possible legal liability and accountability in case of an incident or accident.

To make it clear – according to EASA ORO.FTL.110 – it is the initial responsibility of the operator to manage and mitigate fatigue. It is in the first place the responsibility of the operator to schedule flights already in the planning stage so that rosters are sufficiently free from fatigue. A transfer of this obligation to the respective pilots to decide whether or not they would be able to operate a specific flight cannot be seen as a relief from the principle obligation of an operator.

These considerations only take into account aspects from EASA FTL regulations. Legal implications of civil or even criminal nature after a possible accident or incident where somebody could personally be held liable were discussed in earlier publications.

Therefore, in case you received a fatigue warning, we strongly suggest to apply 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, or using the LEAF App, 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.

Forgotten Passport

As many of you have already learned, one of our colleagues got into trouble for unintentionally leaving behind his passport on his way to China. We would like to give you a brief update on the facts and latest developments of this case, since all of us could face a similar situation someday.

After trying to enter China without his passport the pilot was not admitted into the country and consequently -in lieu of a fine- was deported. A monetary fine was not issued against this colleague, but rather against the company which had to pay approximately 900.- Euros. Management then tried to pass on this fine to the pilot concerned, arguing that this was not a disciplinary issue but rather the attempt to obtain a monetary compensation.

On request by the pilot concerned, pilot representatives got involved into the case and tried to communicate to all parties with the aim to find a solution. This process is ongoing and once we have obtained a position from management we will communicate this to the individual pilot and to you the members.

Additionally, we would like to point out that any pilot who is facing similar issues should refrain from going public. Public discussions might not help to bring the case to a satisfactory outcome.

On 27 April 2018 the LCGB sent an official letter to Cargolux management with the request to officially engage in negotiations for an adjusted Collective Work Agreement (CWA). An invitation to the OGBL was extended already in early April to sign a joint request to enter in negotiations. Unfortunately, the OGBL did not reply to this request.

With a net profit of US$122,3 million – which includes an operating profit of more than US$220 million – and a record breaking production of more than 1 million block hours, 2017 has been the best year in the company’s 48 years history! After many years of ups-and-downs in the international airfreight business and with the present CWA expiring after 30 November 2018, the LCGB firmly believes, after consulting its members, that it is in the best interest of the staff and the company to engage in negotiations for a new CWA sooner than later.

In the interest of all parties involved, proven rules and achievements from the past must be reinstated. These include but are not limited to an attractive remuneration scheme, which considers the cost of living in Luxembourg, a scheme that honours the experience and dedication of Cargolux pilots as well as the reintroduction of effective measures to reduce work related fatigue levels to a sustainable reasonable one.

Our claims are based on the survey conducted in early 2017, which provided us with a clear understanding of the needs of the Cargolux pilot community. These claims will be compiled in a list, which will be made available to you in due time.

It is now up to Cargolux management to accept this request and schedule an initial meeting with the unions to engage in earnest negotiation for a renewed CWA. It will be interesting to see, if management is willing to start negotiations with the same enthusiasm we have seen when the record result was announced.

As expected and announced on Wednesday 25 April 2018, 2017 was a record year and we would like to congratulate everybody for their dedicated commitment to Cargolux.

Today we see a booming economy after 9 years of uncertainty mainly caused by the economic crash in late 2008. Additional pressure that we as employees have experienced during this period was the antitrust proceedings against many cargo airlines including Cargolux. These two issues have had enormous effects on our business and appeared at a time where Cargolux committed to re-equip most of our fleet of B747-400F with B747-8F.

The above items were well outside the control or authority of the employees, yet we feel, that as employees we have been penalized throughout this period with constant negotiations to cut cost. We also see that staff numbers are inadequate to enable us to support the business plan, causing CWA non-compliances and planned overtime.

Despite numerous announcements to significantly increase staffing levels, an adequate expansion did not take place. With pilots working to the maximum extend of what is legally possible, this has resulted in an all-time high workload and fatigue levels. The current employment conditions for new pilots are no longer competitive and problems arising from continuous high workloads and fatiguing work schedules are deterring prospective candidates normally interested in applying. At the same time, we see a number of qualified colleagues leaving, to an extend, that has never been the case before at Cargolux.

In the interest of all parties involved, proven rules and achievements from the past must be reinstated. These include but are not limited to an attractive remuneration scheme, which considers the cost of living in Luxembourg, a scheme that honors the experience and dedication of Cargolux pilots as well as the reintroduction of effective measures to reduce work- and fatigue levels to a durably reasonable one.

The LCGB will hence soon send a letter to Cargolux management with the request to officially start negotiations for an adjusted CWA that comprises all relevant claims of Cargolux employees.

After having joined the ALPL Cargolux Divisional Board in 2013 and served as the Secretary, I accepted to take over the position as President of the Cargolux Division on 16 April 2018.

In fact this was already discussed after the election of the current Board back in April 2017. However, being lined up for my command training, I asked George Karambilas to temporarily fill this position until successful completion of my upgrade to Captain.

George will remain a member of the Divisional Board and I want to sincerely thank him for his dedicated work, shared knowledge and experience. In addition, George will continue his work as President of the Cargolux Staff Delegation.

I am also pleased that Bernhard Novak, member of the Board since 2014, agreed to take up the role as the new Secretary of the Cargolux Division.

Together with the other members of the Board we will continue to represent your interests and tackle upcoming challenges supported by you – our members!

On behalf of your ALPL Board

Michael Kaiser
President Cargolux Divisional Board

By analyzing the feedback from our members during the last couple of months as well as through our own experience, we came to the conclusion, that the major problems regarding our CWA can be summarized in two areas:

• The lack of protection within the CWA against the inconsistent application of the EASA FTLs within our operation and
• Non-compliance of CWA rules by management.

Lack of protection
The responsibility for a safe flight operation has shifted dramatically towards the individual pilots, who find themselves more and more in a situation, where they are forced to choose between two serious decisions:

• Either asking for additional rest and therefore delaying the flight or
• Performing the FDP with an uncertain feeling of running into a fatigue issue at a later stage during the flight.

Furthermore, it has become a necessity for pilots to meticulously check their rosters for legality and CWA compliance when acknowledging a change in the PBS. The resulting request to crew control for legalizing the roster is frequently answered with the unsatisfactory appeasement that the roster will be changed again at a later stage.

The following points highlight the alarming development of the shift to a more unilateral responsibility of crew members:

1. Certain recommendations from the Air Safety Department not being implemented
2. Long double sector duties combined with minimum rest
3. Back-to-back misused as a standby system
4. Misinterpretation of the Time Zone Compensation table
5. Incorrect application of the Delayed Reporting Procedure
6. Legal limits used as planning targets

Non-Compliance
The board has identified several points where our current CWA is not respected:

1. Ignoring the Roster Publication limit in the daily operation
2. Rostering into CODs and VAC without even prior consulting the pilot
3. Not respecting the combined positioning after FDP limit of 16/18 hours
4. Excluding the hotel committee in the hotel selection process
5. Booking to position on economy class while business class is available

In one instance during the high season, one crew controller even openly admitted, that the CWA conditions cannot be granted for the time being. We wonder whether this has ever changed?

The ALPL Board together with the Delegation has tried hard to achieve an improvement of the current situation by formally writing about these grievances to management, the DAC as well as by starting court cases. Individual results should not obscure the fact that the existing CWA can hardly cope with the safety threats from the EASA FTLs and definitely not when being constantly disrespected by management.

We need a CWA which enhances safety by creating adequate buffer to the EASA FTL limits and to assure that the regulations will be respected at any time. In addition, we need enforcement of the current and future CWAs to protect us from ‘planned overtime’ imposing us to fly on Off and Vacation Days.

Now, the above mentioned is only a portion of required improvements, which have been identified by our CWA survey in 2017 for the upcoming negotiations.

One thing that is important and cannot be emphasized enough is the certainty that nothing is for granted!

The current positive market environment and potential record breaking results by the company must not hide the fact that negotiations will be tough and each and everyone of us has to be ready and willing to fight and participate to achieve a good outcome!

We ask you to be ready to remain united in the near future not only to uphold your rights but also to fight for improvements!

On 9 October 2017 the ALPL Divisional Board and the ALPL Flight Safety Committee communicated its full support of the implementation of Pilot Peer-to-Peer Support and Pilot Developments Programs at Cargolux. Both programs are to the benefit of our members and are the next pillars complementing ALPL’s emergency hotline and the support by our IFALPA accredited accident investigators.

In the recent communication from the Human Factors manager, Gunnar Steinhardt, the ALPL has been involved as a stakeholder to move forward on implementing the Pilot Peer-to-Peer Support Program (PSP) at Cargolux.

In this communication there is a two-step process to nominate your potential peers as part of the PSP:

• Firstly, every pilot has the opportunity to agree to be part of a list that every pilot at Cargolux will then use to nominate his/her choice of peers.

• Once this period has been provided, a further email will be sent with a link, where each pilot can cast their nominations.

We ask you to then please access the link in the email that will be provided by Gunnar to nominate your fellow colleagues who you trust to be peers. The aim is to find /provide a peer on the same eye-level (i.e. Captain to Captain and First Officer to First Officer) and if possible (as an optimum) to train peers at Cargolux, who could represent as many of the languages as possible.

ALPL’s first edition of Flightdeck, included some information about peer-to-peer support and critical incident stress management. As always we are available for you to get in touch with us at cvboard@alpl.lu or safety@alpl.lu in case you have any questions or concerns.

Please find below an update regarding:

• The need for honest reflection 
• Planned Overtime
• FFOD Agreement
• Delayed Reporting
• Pending Court Cases

The need for honest reflection

Since sending a reply to the CEO on 13 December 2017 two major items transpired. One being the tremendous amount of delays that occurred on 28-30 December due to a crew shortage. Nothing new there as we have conscientiously continued to highlight this to management for a long time.

The other item confirms the pilot shortage with the amount of overtime the pilots have produced. We highlight in more detail the consequence of this overtime as a topic of its own below.

This letter to the CEO highlighted concerns on safety. Through the Fatigue Safety Action Group (FSAG) objective (unbiased) data is demonstrating that the fatigue scores on Flight Duty Period (FDP) ‘hotspots’ are increasing rather than being mitigated.

While many departments are trying to rectify the shortage, with the recruiting and training departments working at their maximum to hire and train new pilots and upgrade our First Officers, the Crew Planning and Crew Control departments are having to “plead, borrow and steal” pilots within the system to accommodate the network changes and additional charters that are occurring on a daily basis.

At the same moment we see pilots resigning (6 in this year alone). Is this just the beginning of the flood gates opening up?

Continuous non-compliances and interpretations always benefiting the management leave us pilots irritated – to put it lightly. A letter has been sent to meet face to face again with the CEO to find concrete steps to reverse this behavior.

Planned Overtime

Once a year in January, Human Resources, sends a document to the Delegation President to review the overtime figures for the previous year. The data is divided between the two groups, Ground Staff and Pilots. After examining the data, the president of the delegation would either give a favorable or unfavorable opinion.

As the LCGB/ALPL head the delegation with George Karambilas being the president, the overtime data was placed on the agenda of the delegation meeting and discussed. This was the first time this was ever done at the delegation as previously none of us were even aware of this requirement. After requesting the data of the crew to be further divided to identify where the overtime was created it was clear that OFF/VAC days created the largest amount of overtime hours.

The delegation is also provided with all the rosters of the pilots and we also notice retroactively the enormous amount of changes in particular the difference between the planned and actual flown rosters and where OFF/VAC days have been used.

The labor law in Luxembourg provides protection from ‘planned’ overtime. We followed up this letter with a meeting with the Inspection du Travail et des Mines (ITM) to explain clearly the reasons for an unfavorable opinion. The ITM will draft its’ opinion and send this to the Labor Ministry who is also reviewing this document. As soon as we have something from the ministry we will pass it on.

FFOD Agreement

In a recent JCSC meeting the Immobilized Off Days Scheme or FFOD Procedure Agreement was again on the agenda.

Upper management in Cargolux still refuses to sign the agreement, while the JCSC members agreed that the FFOD procedure is the basis for Crew Planning Department to allocate the FFODs. The LCGB has sent a reminder to the CEO that this procedure needs to be signed by the unions which has also been ratified by the delegation.

Furthermore, the FFOD statistics from the first 10 roster periods in 2017 and the first roster 3 roster periods in 2018 were discussed. It was discovered that, although every pilot got their 5 x FFODs, the required minimum percentage of at least 49% in every roster period was undercut in roster period 10 for Captains and First Officers. The reason was a calculation error by Crew Planning Department in the first 9 roster periods, which was corrected in the 10^th period. The minimum 49% equally distributes the FFOD allocation of the 10 roster periods.

The correct calculation procedure was reviewed by the JCSC and the statistics for the first 3 roster periods in 2018 show at least already a positive trend with the correct distribution of FFODs amongst each group of pilots.

We will monitor the application of the FFOD procedure and address any deviation in the next JCSC meeting which is planned in June 2018.

If you have any questions or experience any inconsistencies with the allocation of your FFODs, do not hesitate to contact us at cvboard@alpl.lu for further clarification.

Delayed Reporting

We have received and still receive numerous concerns from you about the correct application of the automatic delayed reporting procedure, which was implemented on 08 January 2018.

So far, the procedure confirms a great variety of inconsistencies and lack of information, which could easily lead to safety critical outcomes like an incorrect calculation of maximum FDPs being operated.

A letter was sent to the CPO with the urgent request to improve the procedure to avoid any ambiguities and therefore enable the crew members and Crew Control to correctly calculate the maximum FDPs. A follow-up letter has been sent also to the DAC-L.

In the meantime, while we are waiting on this and other issues to be followed up by the authorities, we strongly recommend familiarizing yourself thoroughly with the correct application of the Delayed Reporting procedure. Please refer to the updated “Know your CWA 2017 – Part 8: Delayed Reporting”, which can be found under “Publications” on our ALPL website.

This is to ensure that, if the current system is not adequate, you can apply your own delayed reporting procedure in order to prevent being awake for extended time periods prior operating any FDP or exceeding the maximum allowable FDPs.

If you experience any flaws in the present automatic Delayed Reporting procedure, do not hesitate to inform us via cvboard@alpl.lu.

Pending Court Cases

Currently we have two court cases running. One being the case of Reserve Standby Days (RES), which were not credited with 8 duty hours as foreseen in our previous CWA Art. 39.5.1.2.

After numerous attempts to find a solution also involving the ITM (Inspection du Travail et des Mines) and based on legal advice by the LCGB’s lawyer, the LCGB decided to challenge the company’s interpretation in court. In 2014 and 2015 we asked every member to check the relevant documents and informed everybody that the only chance to receive compensation for RES days was via legal proceedings.

Some members who were affected decided to become part of the group and the lawsuit was finally launched in June 2016. After some hearings and written statements in 2017 we expect a ruling on this issue soon.

The second is the “Time Zone Compensation case” that has been filed against the DAC-L. The details and content of this lawsuit were communicated to you in several emails and Debrief videos during the course of 2016/2017. The first hearing in court is now scheduled for October 2018. We will of course continue to keep you updated.