Public servants to have wings clipped

Shauno, remember we are talking government employees here not private workers. Some of the things you have mentioned, such as going a day early or coming back a day or two later are not on with most departments, why? Because of public perception they are getting something for nothing. Most private companies wouldn’t blink an eyelid provided the employee covered the costs of the extra day’s and don’t claim expenses, but nop not government imagine the uproar in the big house. It is the same with FF points too.

As for class of travel yes most departments have that in the negotiated agreements, but much of the rules related to travel are non negotiable and are locked in human resource manuals.

“Shauno, if you haven’t negotiated a better deal with your employer, or some rest time, then that’s your problem. Just because you have to do it doesn’t mean it’s par for the course.”

Different situation in the big world of oil and gas exploration you can negotiate all you want with salary and bonus but when it comes to flights its to tough luck. Its generally across the major companies only upper management and were talking nearing the 1 million salary mark in some companies where they fly business. Its because they have to fly countless people around the world every day its a significant business cost.

If we want rest time we just fly back to work earlier and stay over in Paris or somewhere and fly in a day or so to work. But it eats into our break time and a lot of the time at the end of my break things catch up on me and I don’t organise it. But you get use to it.

$200/hr for video-conferencing doesn’t sound right.

At all.

Our vidcon runs essentially for free (aside from the initial cost of the equipment and a small amount of network bandwidth) and simply runs by IP. Works fine.

Ingeegoodbee, the story you say about Qantas travel is kind of correct. One problem with Virgin Blue and indeed now Tiger and Jetstar is they are not hosted in traditional CRS system (where travel agenets such as Qantas business make bookings). If they are not in the system then the agent cannot see the rates and make bookings without going to the internet. As we know when you book on the net they expect payment upfront, unlike in a CRS where you can make a booking and give the client x number of days before the booking must be confirmed and payed for.

It really is a tricky situation, the departments and the pubes just cannot win. This issue is really blown out of all proportion and is not much more than pollies strutting their stuff. I would very happy to fly Jetstar or tiger when I see our pollies flying them too? How likley do you think that is?

C’mon people…all Business Class does is give you a better class of jet lag

Shauno, if you haven’t negotiated a better deal with your employer, or some rest time, then that’s your problem. Just because you have to do it doesn’t mean it’s par for the course.

I think it’s acceptable to either let someone fly business class and have a kip on the plane, or give them a day or two to adjust at the destination. The value for money is in having an employee who’s well rested and focussed on work. There’s no point sending someone to an important meeting if they’re too jetlagged to function and smell like dirty socks.

“That is just b/s. At least business class goes someway to making the flight more comfortable and gives people a better chance to sleep and get ready for their new time zone and the normally hectic schedule they are required to work.”

Lol cry me a river.

Hows these flights I regularly take. Sydney – La – Miami – San Paulo – domestic Brazil – Helicopter straight into 12 shift offshore. Economy all the way.

Sydney – Singapore – Paris – Luanda and other nice places in West Africa – helo offshore economy all the way you beauty.

I doubt that there’d be a bunch of public sector international travel undertaken for frivolous purposes – most of that travel needs fairly high level approval and the Secretary’s Instructions for the most part would dictate the criteria for such travel.

While it’s true that business class travel is expensive – when you’re going to London for a half day meeting and then coming straight back, I bet you’d appreciate the extra comfort.

The other reason the Government pays rack rates on the full service airlines might be to do with supporting Australian based businesses – the same way that Governments purchase GMH, Ford and Toyota vehicles for their fleets. If you significantly reduced the public sector spend on air travel I wonder what impact that might have on the viability of the full service airlines.

On a side issue, it’s not always management apathy that stops public servants traveling on the cheaper airlines. A couple of years ago I heard of a chap in the then department of the Environment and Heritage trying to book a Virgin Blue flight from Canberra to Melbourne – he rang the contracted independent travel provider for the department – QANTAS Travel Services (apparently there’s absolutely no relationship with the airline) and told them he needed to depart for Melbourne at 0735 (he’d checked the Virgin schedule and knew that there was a flight departing at that time). QTS told him that there was no available flight at 0735 but that there was a flight departing at 0740, he told them that that was unacceptable because he would get to Melbourne too late, they told him it was the best they could do as there were no other flights. He asked them what about Virgin flight DJ-whaterver departing at 0735. Apparently it was possible to book that one but it would take at least three days to confirm the booking and with the extra fees and charges the QTS would have to pass on it would be significantly more than the QANTAS flight ….

Yes traveling for the government is not a pleasurable experiance. The only airline other than Qantas the gov should be using is Virgin blue, at least it is now getting to be a full service carrier and is offering decent flight times and frequency CBR-SYD.

The likes of Tiger and Jetstar should be left to the holiday makers who they target. BTW Tiger are using brand new aircraft in Aus. Jetstar too use mostly new a/c, with the exception of the A321’s they are about to get all their 2nd hand a/c have been from Jetstar Asia, so not really old either. The check-in rules, the inflexibility of ticket rules and the times they fly make these airlines bad for any business let alone the government.

As for business class overseas (and for some derpartments on domestic flights over 4 hours) stop and think for a second. They are, in most cases not going on a holiday jaunt, they are going for work. Most departments expect people to travel in their own time and get off the plane and go straight to work without any slack. That is just b/s. At least business class goes someway to making the flight more comfortable and gives people a better chance to sleep and get ready for their new time zone and the normally hectic schedule they are required to work.

The bottom line is the government should use the best value ticket, not the cheapest. Their is a world of difference between the two.

Will the government be reimbursing staff who chose to Salary Sacrifice Qantas Club membership with this change of policy, or will they cough up for Virgin as well?

Well a salary sacrifice is for personal use – so no they wouldn’t. If you choose to get a free feed this way then that the risk.

Its a good call for greater decentralisation into areas where people actually live (I love the idea of having the automotive industry folk housed at Allara st when they could be housed at melbourne and or adelaide and at least be close to one operation. Or mining / resources being in Perth or Brisbane (BHP have just moved their global headquarters to Perth so they think this is where they can gain operational efficiencies) TCF industries would logically be in Melbourne. The TGA could operate out of Sydney, Melboune or Brisbane to be closer to the pharma industries inwhich they liase.

The DVA are nicely distributed with their clients why can’t other departments Why is AQIS and Customs in Canberra – why not at major facilities like sydney, melbourne or brisbane.

There are more and cheaper routes in bigger destinations (plus international flights would not require connenctions)

How much easier would it be to attract staff to say Brisbane than to Canberra? There is no living in Brisbane campaign?

So why Canberra?