Airwork & Redundancies - Initial Responses from Management
Late last week the AFAP were advised that once again Airwork were seeking volunteers for redundancy. As a consequence some initial information was sought regarding the current situation. Below are the initial questions and responses received from the Chief Operating Officer, Drew Richardson:
Q: What is the current rank establishment?
A: 6 current full time Captains (excluding F/Es and Captains on Leave of Absence)
Q: What is the required rank establishment?
A: We will assess at the end of the voluntary process. If any wish to take the voluntary option, we will attempt to meet that requirement, if possible, whilst retaining an establishment to service the contract requirements. Once we know the number and location of any Captains that wish to use the voluntary process, we can re asses the establishment requirement and/or basings
Q: When will the voluntary period will expire?
A: This Thursday 10/4 at 1700 AEST
Q: If not enough volunteers put their hand up, what is the company's proposed method for identifying those to be made compulsorily redundant.
A: We will assess once we know the voluntary process outcome, as we have the Australian Captain establishment and the F/Os who are not impacted at the moment spread over 3 bases, so will need to await the voluntary process. FYI since around October last year's our training (sim and other training requirements) are now completed in Auckland with the cessation of the QF classic sim. For many years our training was based in Melbourne for our Australian based pilots.
Q: Is there any information regarding work currently being sought by Airwork to obtain other contracts?
A: Any information on future contracts is commercial in confidence. We have moved to this process because we don't see any increase in demand or contracts in the near future and the business performance cannot sustain holding or retaining excess Captains or any other resources. There is a range of changes underway across the business given the market conditions and the underlying performance of the business. Whilst the nature of the contract or ad hoc work is quite dynamic, the market conditions are not strong. There is also the challenge of significant competition in the market and some excess capacity available in both Freighter and pax belly space.
The AFAP would remind members that clause 21 of the current Enterprise Agreement covers a number of important areas associated with both voluntary and compulsory redundancies including 'Time off during a notice period', 'Qualification on Termination' and 'A pilot leaving during the notice period. A copy of the current EA can be accessed
via this link.
Should the number of volunteers fail to meet the company's requirement and compulsory redundancies are sought the AFAP will be seeking further clarification and input regarding this process. If you have any questions you can contact AFAP staff member Chris Aikens on
chris@afap.org.au.
The AFAP Member Assistance Program (MAP) can also be contacted via Freecall 1300 307 912