AFAP Qantas Pilot Council Briefing No.18
A friendly reminder, if you are not yet a member but would like to receive our briefs, please email: membership@afap.org.au with the subject line “Please add me to the QPC mailing list”.
LH Update
This week we released our LH survey. We have allowed ample opportunity for free text inputs as we appreciate surveys often do not capture everyone’s issues. The survey is designed to identify the specific issues pilots have, and this will form the basis of our LH log of claims.
It is important as representatives we approach negotiations with accurate data and understand the exact areas that need attention in the LH negotiations. The aim of this process is to remove any bias the QPC or negotiating team might have, and to represent members as they direct us through the data we collect. We thank the countless people who have written to the QPC with their suggestions, concerns and issues for the LH negotiations.
The survey is available to both members and non-members, although we keep the results separate. Non-member data is important as it enables us to ascertain the broader LH pilot group’s concerns, however, our obligation lies in representing AFAP financial members.
If you have not previously requested a survey link and would like to complete the AFAP LH EA survey, please email qpc@afap.org.au with that request. This includes Qantas pilots who are currently not AFAP members.
Last week we announced our LH EA team consisting of both pilot negotiators and AFAP professional legal and industrial staff. This team has extensive negotiation experience, including negotiating previous Qantas LH EAs. The QPC remains committed to having both professional negotiators and pilot representatives in the room, along with a wide range of skill sets. As previously outlined, our team will not be signing restrictive NDAs that prevent open and transparent communication with the QPC and the LHEA consultative committee. NDAs in the context of negotiations rarely benefit the pilots. The Company are unlikely to share commercially sensitive information if it offered the other party any advantage in a negotiations.
SH Update
As we mentioned in our previous brief, we have been in touch with the Qantas SH EA negotiating team to recommence negotiations. We will be able to provide further updates once we have had our next meeting.
Virgin EA
Last week Virgin pilots voted in favour of the AFAP negotiated and endorsed EA. This EA included tangible improvements over the first proposal that pilots voted against. This process has resulted in a positive outcome with over 75% of pilots voting in favour of the new EA.
Sign-up process
We now have hundreds of pilots that have signed up for the AFAP QPC briefs but many remain non-members. We encourage pilots to get behind the work we are doing as a professional/industrial organisation and join the hundreds of other colleagues in signing up as an AFAP financial member. We are working to expand the services available to Qantas members and need as much support as possible to make this happen. A reminder that AFAP fees are 1% of base salary (MGH), making them the lowest of the representative options in most cases.
The AFAP website contains a dedicated Qantas page with an application form that can be found here. We are also working on an online application form that does not require email submission. Payroll deduction facility is available to all Qantas pilots.
An FAQ document on Qantas AFAP membership can be found here.
New QPC members
The QPC is pleased to announce three new members have been elected to the council. These members are; Josh Chalmers (737), Rob Close (737) and David Laporte (A330). We are pleased to have more diversity in categories moving forward. The next elections will see the QPC expand significantly, and we encourage members to consider volunteering their time to be part of the representative process when the time comes. Remember, a union is not the elected representatives, it is the members.
AFAP Welfare
The AFAP engages People Sense to provide our Member Assistance Program (MAP), an independent, short-term counselling and wellbeing advisory service, free for AFAP members and their immediate household family members (including children under the age of 25).
The MAP provides access to professional assistance from psychologists covering a range of issues. Confidential sessions can be by phone, online or, depending on your location, in person. Four free sessions are available per issue. If required, there may be provision for additional sessions.
This service can help to resolve problems or issues causing you or your family concern, including:
- Stress and anxiety
- Relationship difficulties and family issues
- Grief and loss
- Change in career/retirement
- Trauma
- Interpersonal conflict
- Alcohol and drug issues
- Gambling worries
- Financial or legal pressures
HOW DO I ACCESS MAP?
To speak to a qualified psychologist, free call 1300 307 912 (Australia) or +618 9388 9000 (from outside Australia).
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