Commercial Aviation Update

Small training and maintenance organisations are rapidly closing down, unable to attract experienced personnel or they are attempting to remain viable by taking short cuts and consequently adding to the deterioration of standards.

The General Aviation Association will be opening discussions with various government departments in an endeavour to create a better apprentice training scheme for LAMEs.

It has been brought to the attention of GAA that the trade of LAME is not classed as a critical trade and intending immigrants from Commonwealth countries are given little consideration. The Association will be approaching the Immigration Department to show the absolute need to accept trades persons to assist in reducing the vacuum being created.

Problems Facing GA Operators

(By Laurie Moloney of R J Uvingstone and Associates, the GAA’s industrial advisers. )

The highly regulated environment in which GA operates tends to dictate many areas of employment that in other industries are self regulated. For example:

• Pilots working hours are established by the ANOs and not necessarily by Award prescription

• Aircraft engineers are restricted in the work that they can perform by the types of licences held. There is little opportunity for ‘multi-skilling’ as the Engineer must hold a plethora of licences or ‘ratings’ to be able to be truly multi-skilled. (There are approximately 60 different licence payments in the Aircraft Engineers Award!).

Added to these problems are the current shortages of skilled and appropriate staff in all areas of GA employment.

Whilst junior pilots may be in abundant supply, they are naturally inexperienced and, of course, experience is only gained the hard way. What most GA operators find is that as soon as pilots gain the required levels of flying hours and the appropriate endorsements, they quickly progress to a larger operation. The next step is then on to the Regional Commuters and from there to the domestic or international airlines, with little or no notice being given to the operator of the move.

Not unnaturally, the smaller GA operators feel that they are subsidising the training of these employees to a large degree and yet are receiving no benefit whatsoever from the significant investment they make in each pilot.

. However, the pilots themselves can’t be totally blamed for this situation, as the capacity of the larger operators to pay higher salary levels totally overshadows the ability of the smaller flying schools or charter operators to match these rates. This catch 22 situation will only be resolved • if the whole ‘industry’ works together to spread the cost of pilot training rather than simply training for each particular type of aircraft operate as is the case now.

Engineers, both licensed and unlicensed are in a slightly different position in that there simply aren’t enough of them to go around the industry. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that service charge-out rates haven’t kept pace with inflationary trends and wage movements over the years, engineering/ service establishments are finding enormous client resistance to increases in service costs and the established operators working out ·of ‘approved’ establishments also have to contend with competition from engineers who are operating out of the proverbial ‘toolbox in the boot’, with lower. hourly charges and virtually no overheads.

This shortage has also given birth to a small but growing band of ‘moonlighting’ engineers who are offering their services outside of their normal working hours. This practice is not supported by the industry, associations or unions, however, where there is a need, someone will always fulfil it.

The situation with engineers has reached the stage where the minimum award rates and conditions bear virtually no resemblance to the actual ‘market rate’. The answer does not lie in moving the rates ever upwards, but a commitment from the industry to actively train more apprentices and to participate in future programmes for group training schemes. This is a major priority during 1989 for the GAA.

A particular difficulty that constantly faces all legitimate GA operators, is trying to compete with thoseemployers who choose to ignore the award provisions. Tales of inexperienced pilots flying for as little as $5 per hour, or even worse, paying the operator to fly the aircraft, are not fiction but true statements of fact. Little wonder then that these pilots, once they have gained sufficient hours and a secure position within a larger organisation fight strenuously to improve their conditions of employment. The GAA does not support either the operator or the employees who willingly enter into these arrangements, as it eventually works to the detriment of all concerned.

Whilst the Arbitration Inspectors do follow up complaints, the number of prosecutions for Award breaches is extremely low and the majority go undetected. During the past two years, a variety of measures have been implemented to redress this imbalance that has evolved within the GA industry. Whilst unable to match the conditions offered by the two ‘major’ airlines and the internationals, those. sectors of GA with the ‘capacity to pay’ have been involved in . the formation of a new Supplementary Airlines Award, covering the . major commuter airlines and an Occupational Superannuation Scheme was introduced in 1988 for the whole of the industry. A 38 hour week for engineers will be finalised during the first quarter of 1989.

Whilst progress in these areas is sometimes slow, those employers who are prepared to implement these benefits should reap some limited rewards by way of improved staff retention rates. Regrettably however, there are still a number of employers who are not aware of (or chose to ignore) their liability to pay these entitlements to their employees.

Membership of an organisation such as the GAA is vital to any operator in this day and age, as they simply cannot hope to keep abreast of all developments in today’s complex business environment.

We wish Bruce Teague the best in his new endeavours and welcome Rob Baker . on board. Rob will be visiting as many members as he can to get their input and listen to their problems.