AFAP Qantas Pilot Council Briefing No.16
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membership@afap.org.au with the subject line “Please add me to the QPC mailing list”.
QPC Membership Update
AFAP QPC membership continues to grow rapidly. Our membership numbers dictate how many Committee representatives the QPC are allocated. Each time a Committee election is conducted, the QPC is required to provide a snapshot of our numbers to the AEC.
We provided a snapshot of our membership numbers to the AEC around 6 months ago. Due to the growth of our mainline members, the AEC confirmed three new Committee positions would be available. Our total Committee numbers are now 7. Since the snapshot was taken, membership numbers have grown significantly.
We are pleased to welcome our three new Committee members, with all positions filled. Of these three new members, two come from Short Haul (SH) and one from the A330. This is excellent news and means that we have broad representation and varied expertise on the QPC. While we have consultative committees with members from all fleets, it is important we have official, elected voices for as many fleets and ranks as possible on the Committee. We will be able to confirm more details in the coming weeks as the AEC makes them official.
SH EA News
When SH negotiations commenced last year, the AFAP’s representation of mainline pilots was much smaller than it is now. Since then however, significant growth in AFAP membership has led to both a growth in the QPC, with two new SH members joining the Committee, and a more productive negotiation relationship with Qantas for the SH EA.
The QPC has conducted two SH EA surveys during the SH negotiation period. The first survey enabled us to formalise a detailed log of claims (LoC) based on the data derived from the survey. This LoC has formed the basis of our negotiation position and strategy.
Because our SH membership has grown significantly since the first survey was conducted, and the company has provided a number of formal EA offers to the AFAP and AIPA, ultimately resulting in an in principal EA agreement between the company and the AIPA negotiating team and subsequently endorsement by the AIPA CoM, it was important for us to conduct a second SH EA survey. This second EA survey enabled us to capture the opinions of our now much larger membership base, and importantly, capture the sentiment of our members in the context of the offers made. The second survey was open to non AFAP members to enable us to compare the data between our members and the broader pilot group. Interestingly, feedback from members and non-members was almost identical. Such an approach (conducting two surveys), ensures good governance and provides further clarity on our membership’s required priorities moving forward.
Since the start of this year, the AFAP have made significant positive progress in negotiations with the Company, and a detailed response to our LoC by the Company’s SH EA team demonstrates the areas we have been close to agreement. However, negotiations with AIPA progressed in a different direction, with terms agreed to by AIPA that we believe do not meet the pilots’ stated requirements as indicated by both our SH EA surveys. As such, the Company have decided to progress to a ballot with a proposed EA offer, endorsed by the AIPA CoM, containing significant clauses and offsets that are not supported by our survey results, and therefore not contained in our LoC.
We believe that had AIPA and Qantas not reached agreement, we would have continued negotiations productively and continued to make progress towards a position that is acceptable to both our members and the broader SH pilot group. We believe the items our members and non-members have expressed as priorities in the survey are not unreasonable, and that a negotiated outcome is possible and achievable. Our survey results indicate that the Company’s offer falls well short of the broader SH pilot group’s expectations and indicates that the ballot will likely fail.
Given the Company has refused to guarantee in writing their calculated pay-rises, derived from the proposed structural changes and the multiple unaccounted-for significant concessions, the QPC has advised the Company that we do not endorse the proposed SH EA. Furthermore, given the most recent survey results, and the information we have been provided, we do not recommend pilots vote in favour of this SH EA.
Next Steps
Our most recent survey had an overwhelming response rate, with access provided to both members and non-members. The numbers were close to 50/50 for members and non-members, with almost identical sentiment portrayed across the groups, showing consistency and consensus on all issues. The overwhelming message once again was that the remuneration increases and lack of remuneration increase guarantees contained in the EA offer (which will result in a reduction of SH pilots purchasing power) is viewed extremely negatively.
With the survey results analysed, the AFAP has developed an updated counter-offer that will be presented to the Company and members in due course. This counter-offer is directly developed from the survey results and focuses on guaranteed mechanisms to achieve the priorities of the pilots.
We have expressed to the Company where their offer falls short. Our counter-offer will give direction into how their offer can be improved. We believe this back-and-forth would have better served both parties in a negotiating room, but we have little control over other parties coming to what we perceive is a premature agreement.
Your Vote
If the pilots deem this proposed EA to be below acceptable, and vote no accordingly, then we believe our counter-offer will demand careful consideration.
We are aware that in the event of a ‘no’ vote, it is likely the Company negotiating team will aim to make the minimum changes required to achieve a 51% yes vote. The QPC have strived to create a package that would garner a significant majority of support, which we believe is important in re-building trust and relationships as the new leadership team have suggested is a priority. We hope the Company negotiating team will align with the Company’s new leadership philosophy going forward.
LH EA News
Lastly, we have begun LH EA discussions with the company, and we will be surveying both members and non-members in the coming weeks to capture the most up to date data from the pilots. Given the size of AFAP’s membership and our broad reaching mailing list, we expect the company will engage meaningfully with our negotiating team from the outset.
For any enquiries regarding matters at Qantas please contact any of us or 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