The AFAP is pleased to report that your new EA has been successfully voted up. The result was a clear yes vote of 87%.
This is a significant achievement for the pilots, and the AFAP thanks you all for your involvement and engagement with the process. In particular, thanks must go to your pilot representatives, Victoria McFarlane, Louise and Rod Robertson, and Jai Hickey. Without their efforts and hard work, this achievement would not have been possible.
The process now is that the EA will be lodged with the Fair Work Commission, and will undergo the approval process. It must be lodged within 14 days (unless there are extenuating circumstances warranting a longer period of time, and we do not consider that is the case here). The Fair Work Commission's target for approval of EAs that do not contain special issues is 50% within 32 days from the time the lodgement is made. Based on past performance, the median length of time taken to approve non-complex EAs is 12 days.
We will keep you updated as we move through the approval process.
Your EA will commence operation 7 days after approval by the Fair Work Commission, and your Zombie agreement will terminate. Once that occurs, your Zombie agreement can never be revived.
Congratulations on your new EA. It contains some excellent elements and forms a solid base for when our next round of bargaining occurs in 3.5 years time. As we have said before, it is a good deal. It is not perfect (no deal is), but it is a good deal. The AFAP is pleased that a yes vote has been returned. We think that is the right result.
If you have any questions regarding this update, you can contact Andrew Molnar (AFAP Legal Counsel) on
andrew@afap.org.au or alternatively on (03) 9928 5737.
Your AFAP Industrial Team