EA Update - In Principle Agreement Confirmed
EA Update – Confirmation of In-Principle Agreement – New Proposals Warrant YES Vote
Further to our brief at the end of last week, we can now confirm the additional factors that were agreed between the parties during negotiations has now enabled your negotiating team to formally provide in-principle agreement to the company. We understand documentation is to be circulated this week from the Company, with balloting to occur early in the new year. These changes are significant and extremely positive for the pilot group and your negotiating team are urging all members to review the details below and vote yes when the ballot occurs in the new year.
The details are as follows:
- Replacement of FIFO allowance with the Duty Hour Allowance (DHA) of Capt: $10.93 and FO: $7.11 per hour. Offset by a “low/junior experience” salary rate where the pilot enters the main salary scale at the sooner of 1500 hours or 3 years in Network.
- DHA to apply to all duties including for day stays (but not overnights), i.e. Duty Hours are defined as the period between sign-on and sign-off in any port on any day.
- On exiting the “low/junior experience” salary (>1500 hours), commence at loyalty rate based on DOJ with Network Aviation
- Ability to opt in/out of Airport Duty (once every 12 months)
- Removal of 8 week notice period. To remain as 4 weeks, as per the Air Pilots Award.
- Explicit statement that A days cannot be converted into a reserve period
- Commence negotiations 12 months before EA expiry
- At 5 hours from the end of an RA period, no duty can be assigned, unless by agreement (Company to review 5-hour timeframe against shortest duty in current operation)
- Company will endeavour to roster duties (over a roster period) equitably between crew. Which will be reviewed by the roster working group.
- Redundancy – wording to reflect strict reverse date of joining
- Clause 20.8 to rename from ‘Reserve Duties’ to ‘Reserve Periods’
- The Company will endeavour to implement automation of allowances that require a claim process within life of EA
- Q & A document to include examples around reserve periods and sign-on after an RDO(s)
And
- A new higher tier overtime payment for if/when a pilot exceeds an overtime threshold of 75 hours. The higher rate to be $155 (FO) and $250 (Capt) on the Fokker and $170 (FO) and $278 (Capt) on the Airbus.
In particular your negotiating team had been pressing for a DHA payment since the outset of negotiations and its inclusion is a significant improvement for the following reasons:
- As a wage related allowance it attracts superannuation, it is payable for all duties including sim, office and ground duties and paxing. It is pro-rated for each minute worked.
- It increases in line with annual salary increases.
- The pilot retains the meal and overnight allowances currently applicable as well.
- For example based on the current duty average of 90 hours per 28 day roster the following DHA would be paid per annum: Capt - $12,788 FO - $8,318
Based on the highest duty currently worked per 28 day roster (160 hours) the following DHA would be paid per annum: Capt - $22,734 FO - $14,788
As another example if a pilot worked an average of 4x7 hour duties per week, working 45 weeks in a year would total nearly $9,000 for an FO and $13,800 for a Captain.
To achieve what was proposed under the FIFO allowance ($7500 or $4875) the pilot would only need to average just under 55 hours duty per 28 day roster period.
These figures represent real value improvement over any previous proposals and assists with future protections against excessive hours. The DHA will reward pilots for doing more, unlike the fixed FIFO rate that becomes proportionately less and less rewarding the more you work.
In addition the pilot is protected with the higher rate overtime threshold should more efficient rostering and longer duties result in the overtime threshold of 75 being reached (proportionally adjusted for annual leave). The higher rate being an 80% increase to the hourly rate paid when exceeding 59 hours.
Due to cost of the DHA being far higher than the FIFO allowance the company will introduce a low/junior experience salary for those joining Network with less than 1500 hours experience (which is also part of the Sunstate and Eastern agreements where they receive the DHA). Movement to the main salary scale will be on achieving 1500 or three years whichever is achieved first. (NB this does not apply to current pilots with less than 1500hrs)
In addition the other bullet points detailed above also greatly assist in making the draft agreement more equitable, the notice period for leaving the company, opting in or out of airport duties, commencement of negotiations for the next EA starting earlier and the other clarifications that remove the potential for ‘interpretation’ issues to arise.
On the basis that the long sort-after DHA has now been agreed coupled with the higher overtime rate for over 75 hours worked, this provides your negotiating team the firm belief that the proposed EA warrants every member to vote and vote yes. The additional improvements obtained after Commission conciliation coupled with the points above ensure that this EA will provide a firm foundation for protecting members for the next four years.
It is expected that the access period will commence just before Christmas and extend until the new year at which point balloting will commence in the new year. These improvements have only been obtained through the unity of the pilot group and this unity will continue into the new year as the AFAP formally establishes the Network Council to oversee the agreement for the coming years.
As always in unity:
Stephen Maughan: smaughan@iinet.net.au
Cameron Mapley: Mappers@gmail.com
Ben Walmsley: ben.walms@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 also be contacted via Freecall 1300 307 912