Guaranteed Nights CBA negotiations resumed today 3rd December.Cabin crew are represented by Abu,Oscar,Giovanna,Richard etc. Discussions have finally started on the main issue of LAYOVER. Management are absolutely focused on the removal of Guaranteed nights from the list of benefits. According to their proposal,All crew on Annual leave will not be paid nights.Those on GDP might get a few,but less than a third of the current 9 nights. Management argues that the reason for their insistence of removal of minimum nights is driven by the high number of crew who call in sick,,stating that this week alone there are more than 40 crew on Sick leave. Management have also stated that they have records and evidence/statistics that the payment of 9 nights cannot be sustained and ARE READY TO GO TO COURT to fight it out. The reason that the Cabin Crew Fraternity have heard so little about this developments is that the negotiators are only talking to a SELECT group of PURSERS who are part of a whatsapp group. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CABIN CREW? 1.LEAVE LIABILITY The company currently owes a high number of leave days to Cabin Crew.Some in excess of 90 leave days. If the union was to agree to management proposals,the company would be able to send someone owed those days for five months of Annual Leave and only pay such a person basic pay. 2.SALE OF LEAVE DAYS In the eventuality that guaranteed nights are removed,the company will be at a HUGE advantage when negotiating sale of leave days.In the instance that a Cabin Crew has 60 days owed,would they agree to proceed for 3 months of Annual leave while on basic pay or would they rather sell their leave days to the company at a cheap rate? 3.CREW ON GDP The health cover and Childbirth Cover benefits at KQ are comparatively lowest among its peer companies e.g Safaricom.It is virtually impossible for one to utilize the KQ cover during childbirth without topping up from their personal finances.It should also be noted that the KQ health cover does not cover Pre-natal care if one opts to visit Private hospitals such as Aga Khan or Nairobi hospital.Only the most basic prenatal services are given at KQ clinic. Reduction of Guaranteed nights means less disposable income for crew on GDP to complement the KQ health cover. 4.REDUCTION IN DISPOSABLE INCOME Loans and financial commitments will remain static.Take home at the end of the month will reduce. 5.OUTSOURCING What will be the difference between permanent crew and CDL employees? The company will have effectively managed to transfer all permanent crew to CDL.They will be permanent only in name. There will be no difference in terms of pay.All crew will have to fight for nights in similar fashion to CDL crew. The last two months have seen a cycle of rostering where locals are crewed by permanent crew while layover flights are done by CDL crew. The same trend will be likely to continue if the union cedes Guaranteed nights. 6.INEQUITY IN NIGHTS ALLOCATION Its an accepted fact that Crew Planning/Tracking are incapable of applying any sort of equity in the allocation of nights.The rule of the jungle will apply with some doing maximum nights while others get two.Corruption will flourish and the only beneficiaries will be Crew Planning/Tracking. David Gatimu once commented CBA negotiation is process of Horse trading.there must be give and take. In this case its imperative to ask:WHAT DO CABIN CREW STAND TO GAIN FROM THE REMOVAL OF GUARANTEED NIGHTS? The sure answer to that is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. This will be a case of Give and Give. CBAs are not about backdation.They are about renegotiating terms and benefits of employment with a view of enhancing staff pay/benefits as well as increasing staff productivity for the benefit of the employer.Both must be seen to benefit. Are the CBA negotiators under gunpoint to negotiate?Do we not have certain benefits that we are not willing to compromise on? Worst case scenario,we should retain the current CBA with its benefits.There is absolutely no reason to accept losing Guaranteed nights. Through the machinations of management and a few Entrepreneurial Cabin Crew,we lost the fleet agreement and all its accompanying benefits. Guaranteed nights is the only benefit left from the Original CBA we got from Mapambano. It looks likely that the signing of this CBA will end up giving away our last benefit and blind everyone with trivial backdation. The management plot has been very focused from the beginning.Removal of the fleet agreement and guaranteed nights has been their objective from day on and all the developments in the recent past i.e CDL, KAWU,etc have all been geared to that goal. It is worth noting that when Cockpit crew were negotiating their CBA, they absolutely refused to accept any sort of pay cut and were willing to go to court.It is also worth noting that there has not been any action from management to reduce their massive salaries despite the recent record setting Half -Year loss. Why the should Cabin Crew should lose Guaranteed Nights to help the company Have the negotiators been given the mandate to bargain away Guaranteed Nights without consulting the Cabin Crew Fraternity? WHERE ARE WE HEADED?
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 22:11:52 +0000
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