AFAP Qantas Pilot Council Briefing #5
Happy Friday Everyone,
Short Haul Negotiations
Following the closure of the SH survey the QPC attended several meetings with the Company on Thursday 7 December.
The agenda for the day covered various issues, including a SHEA negotiation meeting. At this meeting we made representations regarding the survey results and discussed member’s major EA concerns, highlighting what members had indicated were the most important issues to be addressed. It was a frank discussion.
Moving forward, the AFAP’s log of claims will shortly be presented to the Company, based entirely on the SHEA survey results and direct member feedback to the AFAP.
Long Haul Blanklines
Members have expressed concern at what appears to be continuous, excessively high numbers of blankline holders in various categories. This was discussed with the Company and we expressed that this has been an on-going concern for our members since returning from Covid. The company advised that blanklines are being utilised to avoid assigning leave in the various categories.
Given the Company’s representations, we will now aim to collect as much data as possible to further determine the root cause(s) of the issue, and assess our position accordingly.
This is an example of why our EA is necessarily large and somewhat complex. As issues have arisen over the years, solutions have been negotiated and incorporated into EA’s to address ‘gaps’ in the EA.
AFAP subscription fees
There has been some confusion regarding AFAP subscription fees.
To be clear, the AFAP’s fees are calculated at 1% of your MGH, making AFAP cheaper in most cases than other representative bodies that calculate their fees based on gross salary and also incorporating other payments in addition to MGH.
Payroll deduction facility
Progress has been made with the Company in establishing a payroll deduction facility for our members and they have assured us it will come into effect shortly. We note that given the time of year and administration involved to set the deductions up will result in a delay beyond the planned 1 January 2024 commencement date. We will advise members once Qantas payroll have confirmed the start date for the deductions.
It’s encouraging to see that we are gaining many new members every week from both SH and all LH fleets. As our membership continues to grow, so do the different perspectives, thoughts and suggestions from our pilots. We encourage you to get in contact with the AFAP via
membership@afap.org.au and continue to pass on any suggestions or concerns you may have. We are committed to being a member driven Council and we will continue to represent our members’ best interests and address members’ concerns as indicated in surveys and feedback received.
We wish you a happy festive season. We will be back to the normal updates in January, however if there are any further important developments we will be sure to pass on the information.
For any general inquiries regarding this update or other matters at Qantas please contact the AFAP legal and industrial team of Senior Legal/ Industrial Officer Pat Larkins (
patrick@afap.org.au), Senior Industrial Officer Chris Aikens (
chris@afap.org.au), or Executive Director Simon Lutton (
simon@afap.org.au).
Regards,
AFAP Qantas Pilot Council
Michael Egan - Chair
Mark Gilmour - Vice- Chair
Daniel Kobeleff - Secretary
Michael Armessen - Committee Member