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.
In this update we would like to inform you about the situation in US.
ANC
As the meal services have been introduced at the Sheraton, Cargolux will revert to what is outlined in the CWA for the breakfast:
The 25$ allowance will no longer be applicable in ANC and this change is already in effect.
Hotel committee members have sampled the breakfast with some colleagues, and it is found to be of the standard that we expect. Some buffet items will change with seasonality and others might be on and off as some items might not always be available due to the still ongoing supply chain disruptions or excessive pricing.
Furthermore the hotel management has informed us that a mandatory Fire Test will be performed at the hotel on 15-16 MAR 2022. The plan is to allocate rooms to crews at floors (up to level 8) which mitigate the affected by the fire alarm in order to limit the impact on crew rest.
MIA
We have received some reports from pilots that the breakfast is insufficient. The standard should include a hot meal, fruits, a regular hot and cold beverage (coffee, juice) and bakery items including all fees, taxes and gratuities.
The hotel committee is in contact with the hotel management and Cargolux procurement department in order to improve the situation
ORD
The hotel change is now complete in ORD and all crews are now booked in the the Omni Hotel. Again we would like to have some feedback on the breakfast and other items that need to be brought to our attention so that it can be addressed.
As always, if confronted with any deficiencies, please file a Voyage Report and forward a copy to cvhotels@alpl.lu
Thanks a lot for your support and kind regards!
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.
Purpose
The purpose of the monthly PBS Survey is to collect data on how our members use the PBS and on the resulting success rates. The collected data is then used to analyse how our members place their bids and how this affects the bidding success rates.
The analysed data has been used in discussions with the Crew Planning Department and Flight Operations Management and for the recommendations provided in the Debrief video published on 09 February 2022 on what a pilot could consider while using the PBS.
General Observations
Since rosters were built manually in the past the “PBS” screen in AIMS eCrew was only used as an interface collecting requests for Off- Days and trips or destinations. With the high success rate when placing bids in the past, it can be assumed that our members became used to that placing only one single bid for the A-Days in a Roster Period was sufficient and that using flexible bidding options was not really needed.
After analysing the effects and impacts other pilot associations observed when a PBS was introduced in other airlines and how these could be mitigated and after analysing the PBS survey data collected since October 2021, we were able to formulate some general recommendations how a pilot should place bids considering the, according to management, “fully automated process” used with the new rostering system.
Number of bids
The collected data shows that most members, who indicated that they used the PBS for a particular Roster Period, placed only 1 bid, an average of 71,2% placed 2 bids, 21,1% placed 3 bids and only 7,0% placed more than 3 bids.
Analysing this data there is reason to assume, that since the pilots became used to the fact that with the manual roster building process previously used and the resulting high bidding success rate, placing only a single bid was sufficient to be awarded “exactly” their bid.
After analysing the survey data and discussing the issues with other pilot associations who faced similar problems when a PBS was introduced, it should be comprehensible that a “fully automated” rostering process requires a pilot to place more than just one single bid to have an acceptable probability that a particular bid could be awarded.
Type of Bids by Priority
Analysing the survey data, it is evident that most members use the Priority 1 bid for the A- Days in a particular Roster Period, Priority 2 bid for the B- or C- Days and Priority 3 for a Destination and most likely in the past, until it was still available, for trips.
Correlating this data with the number of bids placed by members indicates that the assumption made when analysing the number of bids placed by our members (s. above) seems to be fairly accurate. Historically there was no need to make use of more than one bid to get a particular day or series of days off. This apparently resulted in the way the priorities have been used; Priority 1 bid for the A- Days Priority 2 bid for the B- or C- Days and Priority 3 for a Destination.
A “fully automated” rostering process however requires a pilot to place more than just one single bid and to weigh in how important a particular bid is. This means that placing different bids with different priorities to e.g., to get a particular day or series of days off could help in increasing the award success rate.
Success Rates – Fixed vs. Flexible Starting Date
Analysing the data and comparing the average success rates it is evident that if a pilot uses a flexible start date for an Off- Day bid increases on average by a factor of 1,9. The drop in the factor to 1,4 for February 2022 requires further investigation.
Unlike in the past when the rosters were built manually, the new “fully automated” rostering process does not shift a bid. As to what has been explained by Crew Planning, if the system cannot allocate a bid for all days requested, unlike in the previously used manual process, this bid may be completely discarded.
It should therefore be comprehensible that a “fully automated” rostering process requires a pilot to use rather a flexible starting date for an Off- Day bid than a fixed starting date to have an acceptable probability that a particular bid could be awarded. Obviously using a flexible starting date is not always possible, e.g., if a off day block is requested to be attached to a Vacation Period.
Conclusion
The survey provided some important data which was used to formulate the recommendations or suggestions provided in the Debrief video published on 09 February 2022. In a nutshell these are:
Again, we would like to emphasize that the system will require more fine tuning and changes in the future and a quick fix for some issues is not available at the moment. The beforementioned explanation and recommendation aims at helping our members to better understand the change and how to place bids to possibly instantly improve the satisfaction level.
We have to reiterate, that there is no guarantee that these recommendations will result in an increased bid award success rate.
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!
