AFAP Qantas Pilot Council Briefing No.22 -
LH EA Log of Claims
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LoC explanatory document
The QPC’s primary focus when developing the Long Haul Log of Claims (attached
here) was to capture and address the important issues that pilots had expressed in our LH EA survey. This meant developing claims that accurately reflected the pilots’ priorities.
Some data indicated split interests, and in some cases we were able to make claims that acknowledged both positions. In other cases the data showed there wasn’t consensus on certain issues, and the QPC took the position of the status quo accordingly.
It is important for members to note that this process is as democratic as possible, and your individual issues, while important, may not be covered in the LoC for the simple reason that the survey data does not currently support that claim. This is particularly relevant when considering the free text inputs. We have read and considered every single suggestion. We collated this data into their relevant categories, and built claims from items with the strongest data sets. In this document we break down the claims and elaborate on the position we arrived at.
Notes
It is important to stress that this is our log of claims only and as such does not constitute an offer, a proposed EA or otherwise. Therefore, it does not contain our position on various potential concessions (aside from the wages policy compliant concessions). When Qantas presents its claims, we will brief members accordingly, and our position on the various claims will be derived directly from the survey results.
Pay
The QPC maintains its position that we do not support the Company wages policy. The wages policy is also overwhelmingly not supported by pilots. However, a large majority of the survey respondents acknowledged that there are ways to mitigate the wage freezes contained in the policy, and as such we developed our claim as follows:
The Company wages policy must be completely offset and mitigated for a neutral bargaining position to be established. This offset and mitigation can be achieved through a combination of our other claims including long range flying incentives, pay table increment increases and fatigue credits.
It is important to note that an exact and uniform figure for pay rises has not been claimed in this LoC at this time. This is because the beneficial structural changes being discussed contain different pay benefits depending on the makeup of flying a pilot carries out.
The benefit of gaining pay rises through structural changes is that it can offer opportunities to create offsetable efficiencies for the Company and therefore not ‘cost’ pilots more in other areas of the EA.
We are committed to ensuring that any structural changes proposed in an EA offer are thoroughly analysed across a multitude of flying possibilities and analyses are provided to members in a transparent manner.
Long range flying incentives
Members indicated that long range flying incentives on the B787 and A350 are of high importance in our survey data.
Long range flying is taxing on crew health, particularly when crossing multiple time-zones. Long range flying incentives reward pilots for the health sacrifice they make in the operation of these duties. The survey results show overwhelming support for the AFAP to engage an independent sleep expert to scientifically assess the effects on pilots of ULR flying operations as well as existing operations.
We remain open to different structures of long range flying incentives. We have analysed multiple possible mechanisms that would meet this claim and as these are discussed in negotiations, we will share them with you.
Pay table increments
Additional pay table increments are an important element to enable the pay levels pilots have expressed are necessary for agreement when a wage freeze concession is being asked of them.
The context of a high inflationary environment over several years, combined with lengthy stand-downs, coerced LWOP and stand down/up alternating rosters has significantly impacted the financial stability of crew. This is clearly expressed in the survey data.
As such, we have made a claim for additional pay table increments.
Fatigue and Crew Health
Fatigue credits
The number one concern expressed in the survey data is fatigue and the lack of proper fatigue mitigations on the B787 and A350 as introduced in the previous two EAs.
Fatigue and burnout are significant concerns that pose a risk to crew and the business in both the short and long term. ‘Night credits’ currently exist on the A380 and A330 (and in some reduced crew operations on the other fleets) as a way to reduce the amount of night shift work pilots are required to perform to reach a given divisor. Both the A380 and A330 fleets are profitable, demonstrating that addressing night-shift concerns is not unaffordable.
Crew health concerns are supported by the latest studies in sleep science on the effects of night shift work on health and longevity. The QPC have therefore made a claim for ‘fatigue credits’ which would be accrued at the same rate as night credits are currently accrued on the A330 and A380 (across 2,3,4+ crew operations), and would replace these (by name only), and be applied across all long haul fleets and all crew compliment operations.
Tied to this change specifically is a claim to raise the B787 planning divisor to 160 hours. This change will essentially reflect the addition of fatigue credits across all crew compliment operations. Functionally, this would mean the B787 crew would be flying less at high divisors based on the current network.
For the A350, the change would be reflected across all 4 crew operations and would mean pilots are required to fly less for the same credit if being rostered to fly over night. It is important to reiterate this claim is about de-risking the business and protecting crew health. Accordingly, we believe it should be a neutral claim.
FSAG
The Fatigue Safety Action Group (FSAG) is a panel of pilots that meet regularly to review fatigue safety matters. This group is made up of stakeholders (both Company and representative pilots). The group can make recommendations to the Qantas FRMS manager.
The QPC’s position is that the FSAG is a very important element of fatigue management and crew health, and should therefore be given last-resort veto rights to FRMS ruleset changes that Qantas wishes to implement. This would be the last protection layer in the swiss cheese model preventing unsafe operations. While the QPC hopes commercial incentives would not erode safety, we also believe in robust mitigations, and therefore believe this protection is necessary.
We have also made the claim of extending a position on the FSAG to an AFAP representative pilot. Given the large portion of pilots now represented by the AFAP, we believe this is necessary to ensure acceptable outcomes.
In addition to the FSAG changes we have claimed, we have also made a claim for visibility on the Company’s fatigue data. We believe this is important for our assessment of safety in the Company’s operations and to enable productive and effective advocacy for the health of our members. We believe the same data should be shared with AIPA also. We note that Virgin currently shares fatigue data with their FSAG.
MBTT
Our survey data identified that pilots are concerned about current MBTT provisions following 4 crew operations across half the globe. The data also identified 2 and 3 crew operations over-night, particularly from Asia, are a concern for pilots.
Pilots expressed concern about the ability for the Company to roster them without sufficient recovery. As such, we have made a generalised claim for the extension of these MBTTs, which will be refined as negotiations progress.
Flexi-line cap increase
In-line with a society-wide focus on work/health sustainability, a majority of survey respondents expressed a desire for a significant increase in the cap of flexi-line holders.
Increasing the flexi-line cap is a relatively low-cost change for the Company to make and again de-risks the business by allowing pilots to protect their health, potentially reducing down-the-line costs such as increased personal leave. Our claim of a 15% cap on flexi-line holders ensures most people will have flexi-lines approved when requested. Above 15%, approval will be at company discretion.
For clarity, flexi-line holders are not the same as carers line holders. A flexi-line is a personal divisor, flexi-line holders share blank lines.
Fatigue days
Members have identified that the current provisions for calling in fatigued are insufficient.
By moving to an FRMS, the Company unloaded part of its responsibility to manage fatigue onto the pilots. Shifting this liability means crew have an increased responsibility to manage their fatigue.
Survey data shows pilots support having a separate bank of leave days dedicated to fatigue, which will reduce the pressure pilots currently experience to operate when fatigued. The QPC have therefore made a claim for 8 non-accruing fatigue days per annum.
We advised Qantas the necessity for this leave bank hinged on the preceding items. Fatigue credits, flexi-line access and FSAG changes would potentially alleviate a great deal of the need to create this bank.
Other claims
PSN/Seniority flying
Survey data indicates a fairly even split preference between seniority flying and PSN (rotating). The Company has previously advised that they are somewhat agnostic when it comes to a preference for one over the other.
The QPC’s position therefore is that the twin fleets are split between PSN and seniority, with the B787 remaining on PSN and the A330/A350 moving to seniority. This reflects the maximum choice for pilots, with options for all major bases across both PSN and seniority.
S/O B and C scale
EA9 and 10 saw the successive erosion of Second Officer conditions.
In EA9 the B787 Second Officers moved away from the traditional fixed percentage of 51% of a Captain’s hourly rate to a much lower 35%. In EA10, all new S/Os were forced onto the lower percentage of 34% of an A350 Captain’s hourly rate, but with only 6 increments, regardless of fleet. The suggestion was made at the time that the loss was less significant in the context of the volume of projected training, meaning pilots would not stay in the rank of S/O for long.
The QPC have always been staunchly opposed to the B and C scales. Survey data shows that over 99% of pilots do not support S/O B and C scales. Our claim is that S/Os above year 2 move back to the ~51% of Captain’s hourly rate, or the ‘A scale’. This ensures that Second Officers who are stuck in rank, or those who chose to stay in rank for a variety of reasons are not disadvantaged.
By the Company’s own admission, this claim should be reasonable in cost, as the majority of S/Os are promoted within 4 years.
BLH mitigations
For several years now some categories have experienced a significantly elevated percentage of Blank-Line Holders per roster. The Company have provided a variety of reasons for this, but it has become clear that without effective mitigations, the pilots bear the brunt of the burden from inappropriate crew resourcing. The survey results demonstrate this is most concerning to pilots on fleets with higher AFDPs.
The QPC is cognisant the Company requires a level of flexibility given the complexity of the operation and crewing requirements. Another consideration in developing our claim was the likelihood of the Company to use assigned leave or extend low-lines if insufficient flexibility is provided. Our aim is to financially incentivise the Company to more effectively plan and resource crewing, while keeping some access to flexibility in order to avoid the extremely unpopular assignment of leave. We also wanted to ensure crew that were experiencing regular blank-lines in category were compensated for the loss of AFDPs.
LSL bidding changes
Increased lead-in time for long-service-leave has been flagged throughout the free-text survey responses. A longer lead-in time would enable pilots to book holidays and make plans in advance. Given the unreliability of staff travel, this would also assist in securing reasonable airfares if travelling on LSL.
Open-Time visibility
Members have expressed a desire for open-time priority visibility.
In developing this claim the QPC discussed how this might work. A system showing priority similar to how the staff-travel online system shows staff travel priority would meet this claim.
Commuting flexibility
Increased cost of living pressure has pushed a large and growing percentage of pilots, particularly second officers, out of the main city bases. This has increased the volume of pilots commuting, and the survey data shows a large interest in providing greater assistance to commuters on a like for like basis. Some of these items include car park access and improved home transport provisions.
Sign-on increase
Our survey data identified that members believe the 60 minute sign-on time is insufficient. A majority of respondents highlighted 75 minutes as the appropriate sign-on time to ensure pre-flight duties can be safely completed within the ‘curb-side’ time window.
Online training allowance
Increasing online course requirements over the years has resulted in a large number of mandatory courses pilots must now complete. These include: Security, Manual Handling, AWI, DAMP, FRM, Privacy Awareness and SOC.
The survey data shows that pilots believe they are not being appropriately remunerated for the time required to complete these courses. The QPC claim of an additional 5:30 per annum is a modest claim in the context of the time required for e-learning. We also include a trigger clause claim for further payments if more online training is required in the future. The details of this trigger clause are to be negotiated.
Inclusion of the AFAP in EA
The QPC have made the claim for AFAP to be included in references contained in the EA. This is a reflection of our large membership and will assist in preventing discrimination.
Confirmed J class LSL tickets
With the introduction of points upgrades, increasingly staff travel for holidays has become unreliable regardless of staff travel category. This was a reoccurring theme in the free-text inputs. Many comparable airlines offer confirmed J class tickets for long service leave. Pilots have expressed an interest in a similar scheme that would appropriately reward pilots for their many years of service.
Profit sharing scheme
Our survey results demonstrate long haul pilots would value a profit sharing scheme similar to that provided for in the SHEA.
Questions
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
David LaPorte – Committee Member
Josh Chalmers – Committee Member
Rob Close – Committee Member