On Tuesday this week (8 July 2025) we held another joint union bargaining meeting with Express Freighters Australia (EFA) management in Sydney.
Attending for EFA were Richard Hardonin (Head of Flying Operations and Chief Pilot, Qantas Freight), Kate Bennett (Senior Manager Base Operations, Qantas Freight), Riki Cannon (Head of Commercial, Qantas Freight), Patrick Lawler (Qantas IR), Tom O’Donnell (Qantas IR) and Karl Romberg-Yee (Qantas IR).
The pilot representatives and union employees attending for the EFA pilots were Simon Lutton (AFAP), Susha Semenikow, Ed Nell (TWU), Aaron Kirsh, Jane Cleary (AIPA), James Ahern and Nick Swanson.
During the meeting we ran through and took stock of a range of matters covering:
- Conditions of Employment;
- Hours of Work;
- Remuneration; and
- Leave
While some of the individual items within each area or topic are either close to agreement or not of major importance, we remain apart on a handful of critical issues. These include days off, roster stability measures, remuneration and duty travel.
We are still operating on the basis that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” so it would be inappropriate to state what is agreed in case these items move in response to other items. Overall, there was some movement from both sides, but the gap is still considerable on some threshold issues.
As you may have read in the recent company update, at the end of the meeting EFA requested that we commit to no further PIA notifications while we continue discussions. We did not agree to this request.
The joint unions are meeting later this week to discuss recent developments and consider next steps.
Our next bargaining meeting with EFA is scheduled for Tuesday 22 July 2025 in Sydney.
Thank you again for your ongoing support as we work to achieve a fair and reasonable agreement at EFA.
If you have any questions on the above, please contact us directly or Simon Lutton at the AFAP on mobile: 0419 482 582 or email simon@afap.org.au.
Yours sincerely
Susha Semenikow and Dean McMahon