Pel-Air - Enterprise Agreement negotiations
On Thursday last week, 14 March 2024, the AFAP met with Pel-Air to continue bargaining for your new enterprise agreement. Attending for the AFAP were Gerald Taffs and Andrew Molnar (Legal Counsel – AFAP). Attending for Pel-Air were Paula Tran (Human Resources Manager), Fred Collas (Chief Pilot), Eugene Lee (COO), Madeleine Ward (Base Manager) and Ugljesa Mihailvoi (Base Manager)
As there had been a break since the last meeting, the parties agreed to go through the status of each claim as far as we could to determine what was in principle agreed, what issues remained and what issues arose as the most significant that would require the most work in future meetings.
Importantly, it was made clear that although matters might be agreed in principle, nothing was agreed until the entire agreement was agreed. Everything will, in the end, depend on the final package that is reached.
We were please to see that quite a few clauses (admittedly of a minor type) were agreed in principle or substantially agreed. These include:
- length of agreement (3 years);
- inclusion of the model individual flexibility clause (a clause of this type is required by the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth));
- requirement to maintain duty and flight time records;
- ability to cash out annual leave;
- uniform and grooming in accordance with Company Policy; and
- accident pay.
Obviously there are a great many clauses yet to be dealt with, however it is good to see at least some matters appear to be resolved and do not, at this stage, require further discussion.
As expected, the major areas which will require the most work are your remuneration and your rostering rule sets. These are significant areas in any negotiation, and in particular a negotiation for a first enterprise agreement. They will require significant amounts of work both in the bargaining meetings and behind the scenes.
The AFAP is committed to ensuring to the maximum extent possible that, under this enterprise agreement, you will be remunerated an amount that reflects your skills and expertise as pilots, and in line with comparable operators. We are also committed to negotiating a rostering rule set that provides you with certainty, together with an appropriate and safe operating environment.
These 2 areas, pay and rostering, will be the areas on which the AFAP will focus the most, and support internally with the most resources.
The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 26 March 2024. However, prior to that, Andrew Molnar intends to meet with Paula Tran with an aim to removing from the need for discussion any remaining minor clauses, where possible. Obviously, if those discussions illustrate any disagreement on a matter, no matter how minor, that matter will need to be discussed in negotiations proper.
Overall, we are pleased to report that bargaining is underway again, and we hope to move quickly and efficiently to a new enterprise agreement that is fit for purpose for you, the pilots.
If you have any questions at all, please contact your pilot representatives, Gerald Taffs and Zach Buckle. Alternatively you can always contact Jason Newell (jason@afap.org.au) and Andrew Molnar (andrew@afap.org.au) by email or by phone on (03) 9928 5737.
Your AFAP Industrial Team