NJS – AFAP Council Meeting – July 2024 Minutes
On the 17th of July the NJS AFAP Council met at the QantasLink hangar in Canberra along with Chris Aikens (AFAP Senior Industrial Officer) for our quarterly council meeting. Joining for a few hours a bit later in the day were NJS management representatives of Andrew Page (Chief Operating Officer), Tony Macdonald (Head of Flight Operations) and Ian Verner (Senior Manager Line Operations).
Member survey
The NJS pilot council had conducted a survey of members in the week leading up to the meeting and we received about a 70% response rate. Proposing 10 different areas of the enterprise agreement that members would like to see improvement on, we had one standout area and that was of course, remuneration. All other categories were very even in their member prioritisation. It was agreed that we would focus on the top 5 items of these survey results to take to management when they joined us later in the day.
A220 course EOI inaccuracies
In past months we consulted with the company to decide that a form of ‘reverse seniority’ could be used to place crew on unfilled A220 courses should that become necessary. This means that along with the normal process that crew could bid for course dates and they would receive those placements based on their seniority, that any remaining vacancies would be filled using reverse seniority. That is, a non-bidding junior pilot would be assigned to an earlier vacant course than a more senior one that also did not express interest in a particular course date. This process could be used so long as the affected crew members did not have leave planned over the relevant course period. Based on feedback from some crew, it would appear that this process was not accurately followed prior to the results of EOI NJS T04/24 being published. We put this apparent inaccuracy to management and they have asked us for examples with a view to rescind and reissue the EIO results should that be necessary.
B717 retirement vs A220 course availability
The last B717 RPT flying appears to be scheduled for the 28th of October 2024. This will leave quite a number of pilots awaiting training on the A220. All crew will move to iFlight when B717 flying ceases. In lieu of rosters being filled with pseudo training reserves, the council discussed possible arrangements for crew to be issued with ‘blank’ rosters when they are awaiting A220 training. Should a short notice vacancy come up on an A220 course (ie: due assigned crew sickness), then a pilot could be given a notice period (of say 7 days) to then have their roster ‘built’ to attend a course. We felt this was a reasonable flexibility that we could offer the company should they require it. We anticipate that the arrangement would still require the use of ‘reverse seniority’ and the affected crew also not having clashing booked leave. We put this to management and they have taken it away to run past QF IR.
It is likely the company will pursue clause 37.8 of the EA for crew awaiting A220 training, that is to seek agreement from pilots with more than 56 days accrued leave to reduce their leave balances. Management stated that they would much prefer to have crew request appropriate leave periods during their downtime to avoid this situation.
Base Transfers
All crew that requested base transfers as a result of the recent EOI have been granted those moves when requested. We are still awaiting advice from the company regarding whether salary sacrifice arrangements could be put in place to assist these crew moving base.
Accommodation
At this stage, we’re not getting any adverse feedback from members with regards to current accommodation provisions.
Meals
The company has embarked on a complete review of our catering based on what they anticipate our future A220 schedule might entail. We have nominated Eric Galliers as a point of contact for the company to consult with regarding any proposed changes.
A220 Roster Protocols
Still a work in process, however some changes to rostering may be made available to ease the roster protocol differences when crew move to the A220. Watch this space.
Duty Travel
This is a watch and brief situation with regards to aisle or window paxing seat provision when Business is not available. It would appear that most paxing flights are getting preferred seating, but if this is not the case please continue to report it to your reps as we need examples to take to management.
Pilot Retention Incentive Package
Discussions regarding pilot retention and recruitment started off quite ‘robust’, with your reps presenting some statistics from our recent survey. We once again highlighted the fact that our current EA was not ‘fit for purpose’ and that the vast majority of survey respondents would actively or passively look for alternative employment should no short term movement be realised to our EA remuneration. The company reiterated that they wish to implement improvements, however current pilot attrition does not seem to justify such change.
We argued that the short term reprieve given to NJS due to the reduction of flying as they move to transition airframes is indeed that – short term. With new recruit expressions of interest being sought from December to make good their employment targets commencing mid-2025, the current EA is unlikely to attract the right candidates to facilitate the business’ growth. Further, any current staff losses between now and moving into the second quarter of 2025 will further exacerbate the looming crewing issue.
The discussion continued and we tabled our intention to issue the company with a formal request to vary the EA. Initially this was met with negativity, however after verbally presenting some of our ideas, Andrew Page invited us to submit a simple proposal for the company to consider a variation to the EA. Last Friday we actioned this and we will be following this up very closely and reporting on its progress.
Other items
Most crew would be aware that X4A had some evidence of metal in one of its engine’s oil after only about 300 hours in service. This engine was replaced and then the replacement engine appeared to have a similar issue. This metal evidence rapidly reduced over a few weeks of operations and the new engine has now been given a clean bill of health.
A220 #3 (X4C) is going to transfer into NJS ownership on about the 31/07, this will be closely followed by #4 on the 30/08, #5 on the 31/10 and #6 about February 2025.
Hobart overnights of the A220 should commence around February 2025 and Darwin return flights commencing around March 2025.
New hire experience requirement are to align with the rest of the group (ie: be greatly reduced) and we shall be employing a mix of cadets and otherwise qualified pilots.
All A220 standard operating procedures are under review to achieve simplification and further standardisation with the Group/worldwide practice.
Management wanted to dispel any concerns regarding crew being hampered with their release to Qantas Mainline. They stated that there is no imposed embargo before or after A220 type ratings and that they shall work with pilots to assist in the move between AOCs. The preference is to have crew move prior to going through their A220 type rating, but this was not otherwise a hurdle to timing.
Flight Operations and the Training and Checking department continue to undergo a major restructure.
As an interim measure, crew are being advised of their SDO balances when starting on the A220 course. Please ensure that you have evidence of your current B717 balance and keep a tally of any accrued days once moved to the A220 until the company finds a way to present this number on iFlight.
Management reported that they have employed 2 direct entry training captains and possibly have 4–6 other suitably qualified candidates that are in the process of being vetted.
2024 NJS Pilot Council meeting schedule
During discussions with management regarding the final NJS pilot Council meeting of 2024 scheduled for late October in Hobart, it was decided to make some changes. Due to the final days of B717 flying being around then, the likelihood of HBA pilots to be out of base and also scheduled HBA flying to be limited, it was decided that the next meeting would be best rescheduled in early November in Melbourne. We will advise the membership of this once decided upon.
If members are interested in attending any council meetings, they would be very welcome. Please contact us on the email addresses below if this interests you.
As always your council reps are:
Anthony Clouting on
clouters@me.com
Eric Galliers on
ericgalliers@hotmail.com
Justin Gordon on
justin.gordon69@gmail.com
Paul Davison on
paul_davison85@hotmail.com
In addition, AFAP staff member Chris Aikens can be contacted on
chris@afap.org.au. The AFAP Member Assistance Program (MAP) can also be accessed via Freecall 1300 307 912.