EA Update No 10 - Protected Industrial Action Application Lodged Today
After having originally commenced negotiations for the new enterprise agreement back in 2019 and with the recent refusal from the company to consider any form of hard rostering rules, your AFAP negotiating team has decided to reluctantly lodge an application for a PIA Ballot.
Despite these negotiations having taken so long the only area the company has indicated any form of offer has been a base 3% increase on salaries. In light of the fact your negotiating team had been pursuing a more comprehensive salary table, improvement of credit hour system and hard rostering rules the company has refused to move. Even when we alluded to our claim being significantly revised if the rostering rules were looked at positively there was still no movement.
It is clear that we are still far apart in these negotiations. Airwork seems unwilling to address the fact that unless there are wholesale changes to the salary structure, fewer and fewer pilots will elect to come to or remain within the operation. There are too many lucrative alternatives for pilots to consider in the industry.
As a result of this gap between us and recognising the mandate given to your negotiating team at the last set of member meetings, the AFAP has today lodged with the Fair Work Commission an application to undertake a Protected Industrial Action Ballot (PIA).
What Next?
- The Bargaining Representative, in this case the AFAP, has made application to the Fair Work Commission to hold a ballot (vote) asking members if they are prepared to take protected action. The types of action have been developed in consultation with pilots through your AFAP reps.
- The application must be determined by the Fair Work Commission within two days of being made.
- To grant the application the Fair Work Commissions needs to be satisfied that the application is made in accordance with the Fair Work Act.
- An approved balloting Agent will run the ballot, in this instance over two weeks, to make sure every member has the opportunity to vote.
- For the ballot to succeed a majority of eligible voters (see below) must vote, and a majority of those who vote must be in favour of the questions (ie vote YES). If neither of these conditions are satisfied the vote is automatically unsuccessful.
- If the vote is successful the company must be given three full days’ notice of the intention to commence the action, and which action will be taken. Industrial action once commenced is not time limited (other than till an agreement is reached) but must commence within 30 days (can be extended to 60) before the right to take action expires.
- Who is an eligible voter? An eligible voter is a member of a Union that is a bargaining representative in the negotiations seeking to undertake a PIA ballot (in this case the AFAP). To ensure you are covered and entitled to vote the most straightforward way is to be a member of the AFAP.
- To take Protected (ie lawful industrial action) Industrial Action, more or less the same rules apply as to who is an eligible voter. Again to ensure you are entitled to take protected industrial action the most straightforward means is to be a member of the AFAP. However, if you were not an eligible voter, you can later take protected action if, for example, you join the AFAP.
- If you are not a member of the AFAP (that has successfully applied for a ballot) or nominated another bargaining representative who has also successfully applied for a ballot, you cannot take protected action and any action you take will be unlawful.
- Once the application is approved the balloting agent then has seven days to tally the AFAP member list with the Airwork Pilot list to ensure only AFAP members are balloted in this process. Thereafter the electronic ballot will run for two weeks.
- PIA ballots can still be applied for and thereafter progress to undertaking PIA even if the company subsequently tables proposals.
- Due to a recent change in legislation, prior to any PIA action taking place a compulsory conciliation will take place at the Fair Work Commission.
We shall update you again next week as we prepare for this ballot. It is essential that the Airwork pilot group send a clear message to the company that the current company position is unsustainable.
Despite having lodged this application we of course remain open to see if progress can be made in subsequent negotiating meetings and we remain hopeful that Airwork will finally and meaningfully address the claims lodged on behalf of the AFAP pilot group.
Your Airwork Negotiating Reps are:
Clayton Cowled - ClaytonCowled@hotmail.com
Paul Masters - pwmasters@hotmail.com
Mike MacNamara - mike.macnamara@hotmail.com
Seb Murray - sebastian.murray@hotmail.com
Alex Trinidad - alex.trinidad@yahoo.com.au
In addition you contact AFAP staff member Chris Aikens on chris@afap.org.au. The AFAP Member Assistance Program (MAP) can also be contacted via Freecall 1300 307 912