The AFAP has late this afternoon notified Qantas Group management that AFAP members at Network Aviation will take protected industrial action (PIA) with a 24-hour stoppage of all work on Wednesday 4 October (effective for 24 hours from 12:01 AWT).
This PIA action number 25 (“An unlimited number of single or consecutive 24-hour stoppages of all work”) is the final item in a list of 25 PIA potential actions (attached) approved by the Fair Work Commission (FWC).
“The AFAP remains committed to reaching an agreement for our members in Western Australia who fly for Qantas subsidiary Network Aviation and is disappointed that we have had to take this action,” said Senior Industrial Officer Chris Aikens.
Network Aviation operates passenger services on aircraft with the QantasLink tail (but also charter aircraft under the Network Aviation brand) in WA.
Pilots voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking protected industrial action (PIA) with more than 99.5 per cent of the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) pilot members at Network Aviation (who are more than 85 per cent of the pilot group) voting to approve the taking of a range of legally protected industrial action that includes a number of work bans and work stoppages.
The PIA ballot opened on 6 September 2023 and closed on 25 September 2023 during which a total of 209 of the 211 AFAP members who were eligible to participate submitted a vote online in a ballot approved by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) and conducted by TrueVote.