On Tuesday 26 August 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), Alison Hamilton (Qantas HR), Patrick Lawler (Qantas IR), Tom O’Donnell (Qantas IR) and Karl Romberg-Yee (Qantas IR) and Riki Cannon (Head of Commercial, Qantas Freight)
The pilot representatives and union employees attending for the EFA pilots were Simon Lutton (AFAP), Susha Semenikow, Ed Nell (TWU), Aaron Kirsh, Maddy Vaz (AIPA), Nick Swanson and James Ahern (via Teams). Dean McMahon is currently on leave.
Unfortunately, the meeting was not as constructive as we had hoped, and we remain well apart on a range of threshold issues.
While we have made progress on some matters such as seniority, loss of licence, roster bidding and check and training allowances the big-ticket items are proving difficult to resolve.
We all understand that an agreement is by its nature a compromise and no party can achieve everything they want. We do however need to negotiate an agreement that is capable of being supported by a majority of EFA pilots. To do this we understand that we may need to concede ground in one area in order to obtain benefits in another area. Overall, the package needs to be a significant improvement on the current EFA terms and conditions.
The broad areas which we are seeking to develop a package around encompass:
- Roster Stability;
- Days Off;
- Remuneration; and
- Fatigue Mitigation (including suitable duty travel arrangements).
Roster Stability
In relation to roster stability, we have made some progress in relation to roster changes such that:
A. Small changes (for example those under 2 hours) to rosters can be made by the company without penalty or agreement from the pilot;
B. Medium changes (for example those greater than 2 hours and less than 4 hours) incur a payment for the pilot (the amount yet to be agreed); and
C. Larger changes (for example those greater than 4 hours) require agreement and incur a working on a day off payment.
We have undertaken to come back to the company on the rules around medium changes to rosters. Our focus is on protecting a pilot’s time at home base as per the pilot’s initial roster. This means that pilots can plan around their roster and know any significant changes to their time at home base are only by agreement and/or compensated. We are less concerned about changes to duties within windows where the pilot would have originally been away from home base or on reserve as they would not have been in a position to make plans around these duties in any event.
We also discussed limitations on reserve and limitations around AX days (i.e. early/automatic clearing of AX days and a limit of one AX day per roster being able to be converted to a reserve). As an act of good faith, we have also provided an “opt-in” proposal, modelled on the Network example, in response to the company’s claim for airport reserve.
Overall, roster stability is the most developed of our four broad areas needing improvement for an agreement to be reached.
Days Off
Our position is that EFA pilots need a minimum of 10 days off. At this stage the company is only willing to consider 9 days off and we are also apart on the buffers around these days off.
Remuneration
Again, we remain significantly apart on remuneration. The company has tabled a proposal which it says is attractive on the basis of the percentage increase from the current salary. What this analysis fails to appreciate is just how low the current EFA salaries have fallen relative to the market. On multiple occasions we have gone over the history of the last round of bargaining and the re-fleeting of the aircraft at EFA which created the current situation, and we believe justifies a far more significant adjustment in salary rates for EFA pilots.
Related to this point we have also pressed for a more normalised overtime trigger per roster period (rather than the current annual threshold of 750 hours).
Fatigue Mitigation (including duty travel)
While there has been at least some movement on the other broad areas of negotiation, fatigue mitigation (particularly in relation to business class duty travel) seems to be the most difficult to resolve. EFA has been immoveable in their position to the point of being ideologically fixated.
Where does this leave us?
Your EFA pilot reps are seriously concerned that based on its current path, this negotiation will not lead to an agreement.
We are also conscious that escalating industrial action will financially impact pilots and may in fact harden the EFA/Qantas position.
We are however running out of options.
Right now, we will carefully review all our options and explore if there are any creative solutions to the current impasse before coming back to you for guidance on the next steps.
Before taking any extreme measures, we expect that we will call another all EFA pilot Teams meeting to assess the sentiment of the pilot group and determine next steps.
In the meantime, we will continue to speak to senior company representatives (those both inside and outside the room) and impress upon them the necessity to make genuine and significant progress in all four areas identified above.
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.
In Unity
Susha Semenikow and Dean McMahon
AFAP EFA Pilot Representatives