The following information is provided for ALAEA members however our fight to prevent the erosion of our industry by the introduction of lower qualified positions should be known by all persons concerned with the maintenance of Australian aircraft.  Please pass on to your work colleagues who may not yet have joined the ALAEA be they an Apprentice, AME or multi Cat LAME.  

CAT A LICENCES

As of mid 2011 CASA has introduced this new qualification for Line Maintenance.  To become a Cat A licence holder you must complete a Cert II course with a registered training organisation (an apprenticeship is Cert IV level).  The Cert II course is currently being advertised as taking 680 nominal hours (about 4 months).

Upon completion of the course provided you are 18 years of age and able to demonstrate 2 years of experience in our industry, CASA can issue you a generic CAT A licence.  Once the Cat A is acquired the company that employs you can train you on tasks and issue company approvals for those specific tasks.  The list of tasks available to a company cover approximately 90% of all functions currently certified by B1 or B2 LAMES in Line Maintenance and the company approvals are not transportable from one company to another.

Some examples of people who may in the future qualify for a Cat A licence would be -

•    A Trades Assistant who has worked in his role for 5 years, completes the 4 month Cert II training, is issued the generic licence by CASA, completes a two week company course on 738 overnight checks and is then certifying and signing maintenance releases within 5 months.

•    A school leaver who completes his own Cert II course, is then employed as a trainee by an airline or maintenance provider and during that period provided internal company classroom training on all aspects of Line Maintenance for the A380 aircraft. He could then be issued a licence to certify for 90% of current B1 and B2 duties on his second anniversary of leaving school.

It is clear from the above that a Cat A holder need not have completed an apprenticeship.  This position was made clear recently by Qantas management during negotiations when they stated that AMEs would not be trained to Cat A level because they are overqualified.


IMPACT ON LAMES

As the cheaper option for companies will be to train to the lower level and pay at a vastly lower rate, opportunities to apply for jobs as B1 or B2 LAMEs in Australia will be extremely limited.  Once employed it would be expected that type courses on different aircraft will not be available and only Cat A courses will be offered by companies to employed B1 or B2 LAMEs on any aircraft they do not already hold.  Should the system be utilised by companies they would most likely declare many B1 and B2 LAME positions redundant and replace those employees with Cat A positions.  You may be offered employment on the Cat A licence terms.

IMPACT ON AMES

AMEs may be enticed to accept the new classification into Wage Agreements and then find that the company does not offer them the position because they can get persons of lesser qualification to fill the role.  AMEs who do become Cat A holders would be accepting 90% of the responsibility of a B1 or B2 LAME for a fraction of the remuneration level.  A company would most likely then never promote that person to B1 or B2 level and the company approvals held for Cat A certification of aircraft are not transferable, therefore could not be used to gain employment elsewhere in the industry.

IMPACT ON OUR INDUSTRY

If widely utilised by aircraft maintainers, the training focus for many years to come will move away from apprenticeships and toward the cheaper option.  As in Europe, we can see a time when many current B1 and B2 LAMEs retire and there will be a shortfall in the higher qualified LAME.  As a result, airlines may use the lack of B1 and B2 LAMEs as an excuse to close heavy maintenance facilities in Australia.  The closure of facilities will have a flow on effect to those workers in workshops, engine lines and component maintenance as the airlines consolidate their support departments close to the likely location of outsourced Heavy Maintenance (Asia).   We may be left with no HM, Line Maintenance run by a hand full of B1 and B2 persons and a large number of Cat A holders who aren’t even trade qualified.  Quality would reduce as would the safety outcomes and reputation we have earned as world leaders in our profession.

WHO IS DRIVING THIS CHANGE?

Airlines.  Primarily those associated with Qantas and the maintenance of aircraft that are linked to the group.  During the legislative changes that brought amendments to the CASA Regulations extensive lobbying was undertaken by management to make sure they got what they wanted and CASA gave them standards lower than Europe. We are now finding that Industrially a drive is on by Qantas through its associated entities to get the ball rolling by having this new type of licence accepted somewhere.

The Industrial muscle of Qantas is not just exerted through Qantas mainline and Jetstar, their arm stretches far and wide to providers of maintenance for their group at John Holland and Forstaff, inflight entertainment maintainers such as Panasonic and anyone who could be used to bid against internal departments to create a cheaper level of maintenance resulting in lower industry standards.

The Airlines are pushing for the new system for a few simple reasons.  Primarily to drive wages down and take control of your career by issuing you with internal licences that you cannot take to other companies.  They also like the idea of lesser experienced people who are incapable of identifying defects which could lead to flight delays,  or don’t have the experience and understanding to do the job properly in the face of undue influence and management pressure.


WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

The final barrier between our safe industry and the cheaper vision of management lies with our Industrial Agreements.  To create a new classification it must be introduced by Enterprise Bargaining and agreed to by the employees covered by those Agreements.  For this reason we expect management of all aircraft maintenance providers to attempt to roll the Cat A Classification into the next round of negotiations for their company.  Once accepted by some, it will set a new benchmark and become an Industry Standard.  Please reject the concept as a matter of priority.

Do not believe management spin.  They will call it a career stepping stone and fail to mention that once a Cat A licence holder always a Cat A licence holder.  They will say that they only want a few and several years later you will find yourself surrounded by them.  They will claim that they will only carry out a few minor tasks and then you will notice they are on two week training courses every second week and suddenly certify for 90% of the current B1 and B2 licence holders scope.  They will mention that they will only do what AMEs do today and fail to mention that they are limited to Line Maintenance where the majority of today’s workforce are B1 and B2 LAMEs.  They will argue that it is acceptable under Legislation so it should go into the Agreement but fail to mention that DC3’s are also acceptable but they aren’t as safe and it would make no sense using them. They will do this because they will have bonuses linked to the Cat A licence introduction.

Contact us if you have any information we may find of interest.  Please advise us if they are trying to sneak this new LAME classification in through contractor or AME Agreements and negotiations.  Let us know if they are planning CAT A training for persons or offering individuals the opportunity of a life time if they sign an individual common law contract.  Other signs may be found in LAME job advertisements of labour hire companies that should be forwarded to the ALAEA office.

AN ACCEPTABLE SOLUTION

The career stepping stone argument was first raised by Virgin management during negotiations for their existing wage Agreement.  We put it to them that a Cat A licence may be acceptable only if that person knew he would eventually be fully trained to B1 or B2 level.  To their word a clause was established to guarantee just that.  The Virgin clause limits the workforce to no more than 10% Cat A holders at any time and has them being offered a full type course within two years of commencement in the Cat A role.

Use of the Cat A Classification under this arrangement requires planning by a company for future needs by only allowing persons to enter the Cat A Classification when that company knows there will be a future need for B1 or B2 LAMEs several years down the track.  We think this a genuine stepping stone that would prevent a company selecting non trade qualified persons as Cat A holders as they would not have the Cert IV qualifications required for the full type course.  It would also allow a new LAME to gain experience in limited certification and prevent the market being flooded with Cat A holders due the restrictions placed on their use.

On a final note, if introduced in a meaningful way as detailed in the Virgin clause, the ALAEA will be accepting as members Cat A holders as they will be CASA qualified Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineers.  It is up to all of us to ensure that they have a future.

Cheers

STEVE PURVINAS
Federal Secretary

Attachments:

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Notice 02/2012 PDF