On Tuesday 22 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 via Teams), Alison Hamilton (Qantas HR), 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, Dean McMahon, Ed Nell (TWU), Aaron Kirsh, Jane Cleary (AIPA via Teams), Maddy Vaz (AIPA), James Ahern and Nick Swanson.
At this meeting we again took stock of where we are at with various claims covering conditions of employment, hours of work, remuneration and leave.
We still remain significantly apart on a number of threshold issues however slow progress towards narrowing the gap is continuing to be made.
As you would appreciate, achieving agreement is a bit of a balancing act. We have identified areas where certain claims could be softened or adjusted in response to other claims being met or agreed.
For example, during the meeting we suggested that providing the company agreed to a minimum of 10 days off we could be flexible with our current proposed cap on the number of reserves. We did however stipulate that a reserve duty could not be allocated off an AX day and that AX days could be cleared with 36 hours notice.
We also suggested that with the provision of a minimum 10 days off we could move from our current claim of a day off commencing from 10:00pm the night before to 6:00am the day after to a model based around minimum 36 hours off for a day off and 24 hours for each subsequent day off as long it incorporated the current soft rule of 12:00 midnight to 5:00am. By way of example, this means that two days off would need to involve a minimum of 60 hours off over two calendar days.
We also discussed alternate proposals around roster stability involving any variations within 7 days needing to be within certain buffers of the original duty otherwise it would need to be by agreement with a payment made.
These are just examples of how we are discussing items, and it is important to note that situation is very fluid as we juggle the various claims and counterclaims. The company has been clear that “nothing is agreed until everything agreed” so this means that various items may continue to increase or decrease in response to positions on other items.
Overall, some progress has been made, and we are hopeful that with further and longer meetings the gap between us will continue to narrow.
Additional PIA Action
On the Monday immediately before the meeting, we notified EFA of an additional “work to rule” type action being:
- A ban on accepting or performing additional sectors that pass through the pilot's home base.
This additional action commences after 00:01 on Friday 25 July 2025 and continues indefinitely.
A copy of the letter providing notice to the Company is available via the following link – click here
We request that all members participate in this ban, commencing Friday 25 July 2025 as well as continue to participate in the 4 other previously notified bans covering.
1. A ban on working on the following days as scheduled in the pilots’ initially published roster:
- rostered days off;
- non-work days for part time employees;
- annual leave days; and
- long service leave days.
2. A ban on being contactable by EFA unless on a rostered duty or during a reserve period. This includes that a pilot will not answer phone calls, acknowledge texts, acknowledge updates to their roster, acknowledge emails or respond to any other form of communication unless they are on a rostered duty or in a designated reserve period.
3. A ban on signing on within 120 minutes of being called in off a reserve period.
4. A ban on reporting and/or performing any work duties before the scheduled sign-on time for a duty.
The unions have also successfully applied to have the time limit in which we must commence a particular action or ban (or lose the ability to take it) extended by another 30 days. This means that we have until late August to initiate any of the actions we have not yet commenced. The 5 actions which we have already commenced or notified can be taken until we decide to stop them or an agreement is reached
Next meetings
Our next bargaining meetings with EFA are scheduled as all day meetings as follows:
- Wednesday 6 August 2025 in Sydney;
- Tuesday 12 August 2025 in Melbourne; and
- Tuesday 26 August 2025 (TBC)
As an act of good faith, we have undertaken not to commence any additional bans before the meeting on 6 August 2025.
We will continue to update you on developments.
Thank you again for your 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
AFAP EFA Pilot Representatives