Virgin Australia's B737 pilots have voted down a proposed new enterprise agreement.
1123 pilots (or 98% of the 1146 pilots to be covered) participated in the vote with 682 pilots (60.7%) voting against and 441 (39.3%) in favour of the proposed agreement.
Representing 800 pilots at Virgin, the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) endorsed the proposed agreement as it provided an initial pay rise significantly above inflation and retained the highest minimum days off in the industry.
The AFAP also negotiated to retain industry leading work rules that protect against fatigue with the strictest flight and duty limitations in Australia.
“The AFAP was proud to endorse the proposed enterprise agreement. We respect that the pilot group has rejected the deal and the high level of participation in the vote demonstrates pilots are highly engaged in improving their terms and conditions,” said AFAP Executive Director Simon Lutton.
“It is a challenging environment for bargaining and we have a Virgin pilot group that is angry from the agreement done during the pandemic shortly after the business had emerged from administration.”
“The AFAP will now survey members to understand the reasons for the no vote before meeting with Virgin to resume negotiations. The AFAP remains fully committed to this process and to finding a resolution as quickly as possible."