Will SQ cabin crew ever have a say over issues? Or strike?

[Guy Betsy]

Do SQ cabin crew (or Union) have a voice as strong as even say, CX's in Hong Kong? When disagreements come around, what happens?

I know that friends who work on SQ say that cabin crew really have no voice in any matter as their union is rather weak when it comes to management issues...

SO I am wondering if SQ cabin crew would ever come down to industrial action - or do you think that SQ would just fire anyone (they probably did already) when they peep louder than they should.

[astroboy]

Do SQ cabin crew (or Union) have a voice as strong as even say, CX's in Hong Kong? When disagreements come around, what happens?

I know that friends who work on SQ say that cabin crew really have no voice in any matter as their union is rather weak when it comes to management issues...

SO I am wondering if SQ cabin crew would ever come down to industrial action - or do you think that SQ would just fire anyone (they probably did already) when they peep louder than they should.

SIASU comes under NTUC's umbrella. You say leh?

[feb01mel]

No unfortunately, in Singapore it is an offence to go on strike.

Pilots union is strong, thus they have a stronger say over cabin crew union.

Thus cabin crew always encourage us pax to feedback & write in on suggestions or complaints, they will listen to pax more, but not the crew.

I know of 1 issue which cabin crew always complain, ie, the high complain Hong Kong sector to deliver a full meal service within a 3 hour flight duration. So far have not seen the management doing any changes yet to the meal service. Just observed that there is no choice of soup or dessert on some recent suites class HKG-SIN flight which I deem unacceptable, I am sure Kyo shares the same view as me on this.

Also a FA inform me for the crew doing the SIN-HKG A380 turnaround, they used to have a 2 day off for this, now it has been changed to just 1 day off, seems they do not have much welfare from what I see. HKG turn on A380 is very tiring, it is 12 hour work time for them.

[astroboy]

No unfortunately, in Singapore it is an offence to go on strike.

Pilots union is strong, thus they have a stronger say over cabin crew union.

Thus cabin crew always encourage us pax to feedback & write in on suggestions or complaints, they will listen to pax more, but not the crew.

I know of 1 issue which cabin crew always complain, ie, the high complain Hong Kong sector to deliver a full meal service within a 3 hour flight duration. So far have not seen the management doing any changes yet to the meal service. Just observed that there is no choice of soup or dessert on some recent suites class HKG-SIN flight which I deem unacceptable, I am sure Kyo shares the same view as me on this.

Also a FA inform me for the crew doing the SIN-HKG A380 turnaround, they used to have a 2 day off for this, now it has been changed to just 1 day off, seems they do not have much welfare from what I see. HKG turn on A380 is very tiring, it is 12 hour work time for them.

Hmmm, your sources are very well-informed

[LionCity]

Do SQ cabin crew (or Union) have a voice as strong as even say, CX's in Hong Kong? When disagreements come around, what happens?

I know that friends who work on SQ say that cabin crew really have no voice in any matter as their union is rather weak when it comes to management issues...

SO I am wondering if SQ cabin crew would ever come down to industrial action - or do you think that SQ would just fire anyone (they probably did already) when they peep louder than they should.

"Wu Nia Bo" Striking by SQ crew? You should be able to guess that one. Cheers.

[LionCity]

No unfortunately, in Singapore it is an offence to go on strike.

Pilots union is strong, thus they have a stronger say over cabin crew union.

Thus cabin crew always encourage us pax to feedback & write in on suggestions or complaints, they will listen to pax more, but not the crew.

I know of 1 issue which cabin crew always complain, ie, the high complain Hong Kong sector to deliver a full meal service within a 3 hour flight duration. So far have not seen the management doing any changes yet to the meal service. Just observed that there is no choice of soup or dessert on some recent suites class HKG-SIN flight which I deem unacceptable, I am sure Kyo shares the same view as me on this.

Also a FA inform me for the crew doing the SIN-HKG A380 turnaround, they used to have a 2 day off for this, now it has been changed to just 1 day off, seems they do not have much welfare from what I see. HKG turn on A380 is very tiring, it is 12 hour work time for them.

That is precisely the reason why I avoid the A380 flight. The inflight staff looked too tired and tried very hard not to show their frustrations on the previous A380 flights I was on.

[feb01mel]

That is precisely the reason why I avoid the A380 flight. The inflight staff looked too tired and tried very hardly not to show their frustrations on the previous A380 flights I was on.

The latest news I heard is for the a380 hkg turn, instead of the usual 23 cabin crew on A380 flights, for this one they will have an extra crew making it 24. I am thinking whether can an extra crew make the difference? But better than nothing right....

Also at the layover in HKG, they have an aircrew lounge in the airport where they can rest for a little while when the aircraft is being cleaned.

From 28 March, SQ 861 will depart at 1540hrs instead of the current 1600hrs, the layover will be shortened slightly.

[spw21]

According to my IFS friend, many years ago during Lee Kuan Yew's time, the SQ staff did plan a strike but weren't allowed to do so. Can anyone confirm this?

[astroboy]

According to my IFS friend, many years ago during Lee Kuan Yew's time, the SQ staff did plan a strike but weren't allowed to do so. Can anyone confirm this?

I remembered there was an attempt by some cabin crew to "go-slow" but this was quickly snuffed out, and the 'trouble-makers' quickly dealt with. Not sure how long ago this was, or was it during Lee Kuan Yew's time as PM.

And remember the infamous "work-to-rule" threat by the pilots' union some 7 years ago which resulted in an invitation to tea at the Istana by MM, and later on, a pilot having his PR-ship rescinded?

[boing]

The pilots union, ALPA-S, is one of the strongest labour union in Singapore. It has dragged the management to court many times regarding their issues. Now back to the cabin crew union. It does fight for its staff albeit in a low profile compared to the pilots high profile union.

http://www.siasu-cabincrewbranch.org.sg/message2.htm

http://www.siasu-cabincrewbranch.org.sg/cabin_crew.htm

Here's something I posted on another forum regarding this issue. I will reproduce it in its entirety here:

Now as much as I'm against strikes, there are times I feel they should occur. The lack of strikes or the law against them has, I feel, has actually emboldened some companies to force half-baked, ill-thought, lop-sided policies down employees throats. And they do this in the comfort that there's nothing much the workers can do. I mean, what's the worst that can happen for the company.The most they can do is go to court which SIA's Pilots union has gone to many times. And the court will actually hammer out a deal or come to a compromise between the two parties. AFAIK, it has never ruled in total favour of the workers. It doesn't punish the company for any policies, no matter how detrimental it would be to the workers. And so this, I feel, encourages the company to come up with as many evil plots as possible and see which can go through.

Having said that, the end users are the actual innocent victims in this cross fire between workers and employer. And in the case of SQ, all the reputation that they built up over the years will go up in smoke if a strike were to occur in SQ. And if the disgruntled pax take their business elsewhere, then there will be no business for SQ and staff will have to go, making the idea of a strike self-defeating. End of the day, there must be total trust and transparency between the company and workers. The workers do not want to be taken for fools or second class citizens as in the case where a company makes money, gives its management a healthy paycheck and good dividends to its shareholders, but does not want to share with its staff or even worse, squeezes them further.

Here'e a gem of a video I found on YT on this whole issue including bits of SQ cc training, enjoy :

http://redirectingat.com/?id=42X4874...ture%3Drelated

Moral of the story is: Don't follow the West blindly. What works for them will not necessarily work for us.

[Savage25]

No unfortunately, in Singapore it is an offence to go on strike.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but its only illegal to strike if you haven't registered and gotten approval from SPF.

For all practical purposes, though....

[astroboy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but its only illegal to strike if you haven't registered and gotten approval from SPF.

For all practical purposes, though....

AFAIK, certain sectors classified as essential services, for e.g. public transport, healthcare, police force, are not allowed to go on strike, for obvious reasons. There could be more sectors, can anyone clarify?

[jhm]

a pilot having his PR-ship rescinded?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/3676881.stm

[cscs1956]

Should be lucky that this is not allow. Look at BA ! Finally, both customer and company is going down with it.

[spw21]

It would be a really huge blow to SQ's image if the Singapore Girls and Guys go on strike.. Can't imagine seeing most of SQ's flights in Changi marked as "Cancelled"