Carrier wrote:WW’s ATR operation used to have the reputation of being one such permanent job situation. There used to be low turnover because people liked to stay.
flyinthebug wrote:I have very little current knowledge of WWA but even 4 years ago they were the envy of all sask air services and what many pilots and engineers aspired to? Im saddened to hear that these problems have hit WWA since their expansion.
I used to be on the ramp in YXE 4 times a week minimum and ALL the pilots at WWA were happy and content and flying very well maintained equipment.
Responsibility and accountability. As pilots we are aware of the seriousness of those concepts as they apply to us when operating.
But what about responsibility and accountability from management? Besides the long arm of Transport Canada (and yes there's a bit of sarcasm), they only have to answer to their shareholders (who they meet with, what, every 6 months for an hour? I don't really know...) and their employees.
There is an acknowledgement that WW had a lot of respect from its employees and those in the industry because they made an effort to maintain working conditions above the minimum requirements that TC issues. There is a responsibility to address those issues if such conditions start to slide. The responsibility lies with everyone outside of WW to voice their disapproval, for if those that set the standard to which we all compared our current situation to starts to lower that same bar, where does it stop? Well it stops at the legal requirements set by TC. Lifestyle is not written into those requirements though.
Those at westwind carry more on their shoulders though. They have a responsibility to not only continue safe operations, but to think about and try to realize the reason why this thread is getting so much attention.
I think it's because, like I said above, if the company to who everyone said was the place to be...is all of a sudden sounding like everyplace else...that's a low day in Canadian aviation. And it's up to those there to decide what to do about it.
Samaritan wrote:I would have to think from my experience there that the major issue would be just the simple existence of a contract at all instead of a loose set of "working conditions" which can be changed at any moment to suit managements needs at that time without any feedback from the crews or any concessions when the lifestyle is damaged by one of these changes. As you can imagine this sort of dynamic ever changing job description has repercussions which reach right into the CARS i.e. duty days and splitting or extending etc., the intention and availability of on call crews, number of guaranteed days off per month (and having them actually be guaranteed), overtime pay (although word on the street is that this was magically fixed all of a sudden, I wonder why?), and an SMS program that actually lives up to what it is supposed to achieve (whereby you can actually speak about concerns honestly, without it becoming a financial decision).
Outside of these things, off the top of my head, I can only imagine that pay for the less experienced or more junior pilots would be a fairly major issue as everyone is aware the cost of living in Saskatchewan isn't what it once was.
Anyone who knows more or thinks there are more pressing issues please add as you see fit.
That's a good start...anyone at WW have anything to add?
