Presidential Election 2000
OUR FUTURE

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The EGM on 4^th July was an excellent opportunity for our members to meet both Ted and I. About 25% of you are yet to vote. One recurring question was: where do I see the future of our Association going? 

Immediate Future.  Our committee has many ongoing items. Our priorities, set during my previous 4 years’ committee work, remain the same: Flight Safety, Lifestyle and Remuneration. To summarise: 

• Proper industry-standard Rostering Practices that prevent fatigue and give crew an acceptable time to “get a life”. We need better, stable rosters.
• We’re working for a company to make profit. If we’re profitable then we deserve to be paid a reasonable return. I don’t define pay cuts and sub-market rates as “reasonable” at the moment.

Our immediate aims must include: 

1. Common COS for all
2. Common Benefits in each base area (including Hong Kong)
3. Industry-standard Rostering Practices
4. Common salary scales

 Medium Future.  As our company grows, our Association must grow in parallel to become bigger, stronger and more effective.

To become bigger, we must improve the current membership levels; 1092 Full Members is not enough. All pilots benefit from the work your Association does for you but not everyone is prepared to pay their 1%. We must find ways to encourage more members to join. As DragonAir, too, expands and starts long-range flights, our needs become closer. Last week, the DragonAir Pilots Association formed a new committee who also share similar views. 

To become stronger, we must work harder with our allies both domestically and internationally. At home, we need to liaise more with other CX groups, such as the Local Staff Union and the Flight Attendants Union, as well as other aviation groups and government bodies. Internationally, the Oneworld Cockpit Crew Coalition and IFALPA will continue to be an high priority. All it needs is application and communication. 

To become more effective – well, that would be giving the tactical game away! Management continues to monitor our election. Suffice it to say, for the moment, that I believe we have to communicate better with you, our members. We need to keep you better informed so that you can keep us better focussed on what needs to be done. Effectiveness depends largely on energy and skill.

Long-term Future.  A quick look at our Seniority List shows some guys retiring in 30 years’ time. Our Association has to plan beyond the next 2 or 3 years. There will be many more economic cycles. We cannot allow ourselves to be threatened in a similar manner again, whether it is in 5 or 15 or 25 years’ time. We must not forget the health of our members as well as the health of our Association. We must continue to regard closely aviation trends such as greater retirement ages, longer sectors, and adverse environments - such as polar routings and solar radiation. Our Association must mature faster than aviation.

However, every journey begins with a single step. My step is offering myself as a Presidential candidate to you. I’m very willing to work closely with your committee to enhance our Association significantly. You, however, have the vote.

 Best regards

Nigel Demery           6th July 00

Presidential Election 2000
CHANCE TO MEET THE CANDIDATES AGAIN

Following the Forums, you will have another opportunity to meet and question the candidates at the EGM on 4th July.

Ted and I can take the stage, to answer any questions etc from the floor, after the meeting (EGM) has concluded its business.

Although you shouldn't expect an American-style TV debate, this will be a great opportunity to see Ted and I together and to ask those nagging questions before you finally cast your vote.

Having now spoken to scores and scores of members, it's apparent that some of you, quite understandably, feel that to vote for me may be perceived as being disloyal to Ted. Most of us agree that Ted has had a tough time in the last 2 years and our Association has weathered a difficult period with management. We must remember that it was a team effort. The result and the decisions were achieved with the consensus of the team - all of us - but that is now history.

What we, the Membership, now have to decide is what are we going to do about the future. Our future. A lot of the previous problems have not gone away with the abating of the Asian financial crisis. On the contrary, some have become worse. To overcome these persistent problems needs a fresh team with new energy.

Loyalty to one's peers is just one of the qualities that makes our Association strong. It is not being disloyal if you want to see your Association go from strength to strength - on the contrary. Both Ted and I should be around the union scene for some time to come. As I've said before, now is the time to re-focus and to re-apply our efforts. So let's have the best team, with the right people in the right jobs, for the future.

Success is worth striving for. Let's unite behind a rejuvenated committee and we can succeed and reverse the trend of the last decade.

Nigel Demery           2nd July 00