Qantas Short Haul EA Update No 9
The QPC have been advised that the AIPA CoM met and voted to endorse a revised SH EA proposal. From the information we have received, the AIPA CoM remains largely divided over the proposal, and the decision to endorse the revised proposal was not unanimous.
There is also confusion regarding the origin of the proposal. Since the AIPA vote, both AIPA and Qantas wrote to the SH pilots and provided conflicting information regarding the origins of the proposal.
As previously advised by the AFAP, we spoke to Jim Morton (Head of Industrial Relations and part of the Company’s SH EA negotiating team) the day before CoM met, and he advised us in clear and categoric terms that there was no revised offer from Qantas and that any revised offer would have to come from AIPA.
This situation leaves the QPC with very little confidence that Qantas and AIPA followed a process in line with the good faith bargaining requirements under the Fair Work Act. We have written to the Company and are seeking further legal counsel on this matter. As always, we will keep our members informed as this legal matter progresses.
With regards to the SH EA proposal that the AIPA CoM have endorsed, the proposal contains:
- a reduction in MGH from 62 hours to 60 hours, and a
- reduction in X Day payments from 2 hours to 1 hour, in exchange for
- a level 6 pay increase of 2.5%
We wrote to Qantas on Wednesday to clarify if the revised agreement would offer remuneration guarantees around the advertised gains from structural changes. In written reply, Qantas offered no guarantees on the gains from these structural changes.
Given this revised proposal still offers no guarantees around pay rises derived from structural changes, purported by the Company to be in excess of 8.5%, and the significant concessions it contains, this SH EA proposal fails to adequately address the issues raised in the AFAP’s SH survey.
It is the QPC’s position that the proposed offer remains well short of the guaranteed remuneration that pilots have indicated is necessary and contains very significant concessions that will negatively affect pilot's careers into perpetuity.
We note that level 6 pay was on the table in negotiations at the end of last year and was subsequently removed by Qantas. We also note both level 5 and level 6 pay arguably will not benefit a great majority SH pilots in the short term.
In addition, a pilot who has been in SH for 5 years or more will not initially benefit from a jump to level 6 pay, instead they will progress to level 5, meaning it will be an additional 12 months to reach level 6 pay.
The Company has indicated that they will be proceeding with taking the AIPA endorsed proposal to a vote. It is the QPC’s position that the proposal falls well short of what SH pilots deserve and expect, as indicated by our original SH survey data. Given that data, we expect that the proposal will not be accepted by a majority of pilots.
Short Haul Survey
With this in mind, we will be releasing another SH EA survey today to ensure that we have the most up to date data on SH pilots EA position.
The survey is being conducted through Question Pro and link will be sent out via email to AFAP members. Any non-AFAP members who are current Qantas pilots may request a link to complete the survey by emailing qpc@afap.org.au.
The email you receive will contain an individual survey link which is single use and linked to your email address so that the survey cannot be shared or completed multiple times. The survey once started can be saved and completed at a later time. However please note, if you open the survey but close the page without clicking on save and continue you will be unable to resume the survey.
Any pilots who do not receive a link (please check your junk mail first) should email the AFAP at patrick@afap.org.au.
We will base our representation moving forward on the survey data and will continue to engage with Qantas with the aim of negotiating an acceptable outcome for SH pilots. We remain committed to a better negotiated outcome and will continue to represent our members accordingly.
For any inquiries regarding Short Haul bargaining 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