FWC (again)
On the 1st of December, your council members met with the company and the Fair Work Commission regarding a pilot's right to refuse a duty extension greater than 2 hours (under clause 9.27.11 of the determination). In attendance were Stephen Maughan, Ben Walmsley, Matt Atkinson, Sasha Leavy and Joshua Sheldon.
The AFAP and its council maintain that when a delay exceeds 2 hours, a pilot is empowered under the clause to accept or refuse the delay. The company, unsurprisingly, do not agree with this interpretation.
The purpose of Monday was for the FWC to facilitate an agreement between both parties and avoid lengthy arbitration. While your council attempted to remain flexible, the company were steadfast in its position – even challenging AFAP’s legal right to bring forward such a case.
As a result, the case will now move into its arbitration phase, once the jurisdictional claim has been resolved. The hearing on the jurisdictional matter is set for February. We hope the arbitration to be completed by mid next year.
No Duty Changes within 24 Hours
For clarity, a duty change under this clause is any disadvantageous change to the length of duty before sign-on, i.e., starting earlier or finishing later than rostered.
This means that any change, regardless of its magnitude (for example, signing off 5 minutes later), requires the Pilot's prior permission and can be accepted or rejected at the Pilot's discretion.
If you’ve noticed a disadvantageous change on your roster within 24 hours before sign-on, without permission, we heartily encourage you to contact one of your Pilot Representatives.
No payment for working on a UA day
Under a strict reading of the Determination (which the company seems to apply selectively), there will be no RDO payment when working or encroaching on a UA day.
Your council and its working group members were told that management doesn’t expect it to negatively impact their resilience, and that pilots can still elect to work it if they choose.
Christmas and New Year's bidding
In early 2024, before the AFAP council was even formed, our would-be reps on the Roster Working Group approached the company to set up a Christmas-New Year's bidding system (similar to the Cabin Crews). It was a task we had hoped would be completed by Christmas last year – a hope that was sadly dashed.
During our very first council meeting with the company last December, we again brought up the idea, and the company seemed eager to come to the table.
Your council then spent time in every meeting through 2025, reminding the company of its commitment, including at our last meeting in September (when no progress had been made), where we formally offered to help build and test the system - a request which was ignored.
As a result of the company's failings, the system, which we saw implemented with minimal consultation, was flawed, and member feedback suggests widespread dissatisfaction with the results for Christmas Day. We have been informed that, despite the company providing the manual roster bids to Work Force Planning, they were just ignored. The reasons for this have ranged from it being too difficult to there not being enough time to implement such complex rosters.
We are actively working with the company to achieve better results in the new year for the next roster publication.
On slightly lighter notes
Monday marked one year since your council first met with the company's management. We want to take this time to share some of the positives that have emerged this year, thanks to the tireless work of our members and staff.
Accommodation and meals
Matt Atkinson spent considerable time this year advocating for and monitoring improved accommodation and meal standards for our crew. Liaising directly with management, we’ve had the following wins.
We no longer use Potshot as the preferred location for day waits and overnights. The primary hotel has moved to Ningaloo Lodge. work is ongoing in Learmonth to secure more suitable accommodation following crew feedback on the Ningaloo Lodge.
Port Hedland accommodation will primarily be in the Port Hedland Hotel. However, when required to stay in the gateway village, crews have been moved from the multi-story complex to the Chalets (although work is still ongoing to improve this).
DVA
At the onset of the ED, the company attempted to skirt good law and create its own interpretation of the phrase “Paid by the hour or Part thereof”.
The common understanding of this phrase is that payment would be paid to the next whole hour. In typical NAA and IR fashion, this multi-billion-dollar company differed from this ‘interpretation’ – paying instead by the minute.
Tireless work from your reps and pushback from our members eventually led to the behemoth of Qantas IR to change course and “agree” with the standard definition.
Safety and Disciplinary Support
Your council members have spent considerable time supporting their members at both safety and disciplinary meetings. We tried to collate some data for this update; however, the sheer volume of requests we’ve had has proven insurmountable.
So we want to take this time to remind our members (and non-members alike) that our council members are here to support you, no matter how minor the issue may seem. And when you are being supported by one of your reps, you will have the full legal and industrial weight of the AFAP behind you every step of the way.
As always your AFAP Network Aviation Pilot Council are:
Stephen Maughan:
smaughan@iinet.net.au
Ben Walmsley:
ben.walms@gmail.com
Joshua Sheldon:
Josh.b.sheldon@gmail.com
Sasha Leavy:
sasha_leavy@hotmail.com
Matt Atkinson:
matkinson209@gmail.com
Eman Zimmerman:
mano01@hotmail.com
Mark Levitt:
ml.network.pilotcouncil@outlook.com
Geoffrey Aro:
flyingaro@gmail.com
In addition, the AFAP Senior Industrial Officer Chris Aikens is contactable on chris@afap.org.au. The AFAP Member Assistance Program (MAP) can be contacted via Freecall 1300 307 912