The AFAP is currently involved in major Fair Work Commission proceedings concerning proposed changes to the Air Pilots Award 2020.
These proceedings are important for all pilots.
They concern the Award, but their impact will not stop there. The Award is the baseline against which enterprise agreements are bargained. If Award protections are weakened, that weakens the benchmark across the industry. If Award protections are strengthened, that improves the industrial foundation from which pilots bargain in the future.
This is therefore not just a technical Award matter. It is a case about the minimum standards that will underpin pilot conditions across the industry for years to come.
Two applications are before the Commission
There are presently two applications:
- Sharp Aviation has applied to vary the Award in ways that would reduce or weaken important protections for pilots.
- AFAP has applied to vary the Award in ways that would improve fairness, close gaps, and strengthen protections.
The AFAP is opposing Sharp’s application and advancing its own application to improve the Award.
Why Sharp’s application matters
Sharp’s application seeks, in substance, to make it easier for employers to:
- treat certain standby or reserve time as not counting as ordinary working time;
- average ordinary hours over a much longer period, reducing circumstances in which overtime would otherwise be payable; and
- expand training bond arrangements and the costs that may be recovered from pilots.
If those changes were allowed, the consequences for pilots could be serious.
Pilots could be worse off because employers would have greater scope to:
- avoid paying properly for time during which pilots are effectively under employer control;
- reduce overtime outcomes and lower effective remuneration through long-period averaging of hours;
- impose broader and more burdensome training bond obligations; and
- use a weakened Award as a platform for pressing for weaker outcomes in enterprise bargaining.
Put simply, if Sharp succeeds, the industrial floor for pilots will be lower.
That matters not only for Award-reliant pilots, but also for pilots on enterprise agreements. Once the minimum standard is pushed down, employers are better placed to argue for lower or more flexible conditions elsewhere.
What the AFAP is seeking
The AFAP’s application is directed to improving and clarifying important Award protections.
In substance, the AFAP is seeking to strengthen and improve the Award in areas including:
- hours of work, days off and rest protections;
- the operation of facilitative and fatigue-related arrangements so that minimum industrial protections are not undermined in practice;
- unfair training bond practices;
- roster displacement protections;
- meal breaks and layover meal protections;
- annual leave clarity and fairness; and
- other areas of uncertainty or unfairness affecting pilots.
If the AFAP succeeds, the benefits for pilots could include:
- stronger minimum protections around working time and rostering;
- fairer leave outcomes;
- reduced scope for unfair or excessive training bond obligations;
- clearer Award provisions, with less room for inconsistent treatment and dispute; and
- a stronger Award benchmark for future enterprise bargaining.
Put simply, if the AFAP succeeds, the industrial floor for pilots will be stronger.
Why this case will turn on evidence
These proceedings will turn heavily on the evidence.
It will not be enough for the AFAP to say that Sharp’s proposed changes are harmful, or that AFAP’s proposed changes are fair and necessary. The Commission will need evidence from pilots about how these arrangements work in real life.
That includes evidence about matters such as:
- the real restrictions and burdens of standby and reserve;
- how hours are worked and how overtime is affected in practice;
- the effect of training bonds on pilots’ mobility and finances;
- the reality of fatigue-related arrangements and roster changes;
- problems with meal breaks and layover arrangements; and
- how annual leave provisions operate in practice.
This is where members matter.
If pilots want to avoid worse conditions and support better ones, member involvement is essential.
Why every member should care
Some may think that because these cases concern the Award, they are only relevant to Award-reliant pilots.
That is not so.
The Award is the benchmark beneath enterprise agreements. It shapes bargaining, expectations, and the industrial floor across the profession.
A weaker Award makes it easier for employers to argue for weaker agreement outcomes.
A stronger Award makes it easier for pilots and unions to defend existing conditions and push for improvements.
That is why these proceedings have significance well beyond the text of the Award itself.
They are about the standards that will influence bargaining outcomes across the industry.
Member survey to follow
The AFAP will shortly circulate a member survey to help identify pilots who may be able to provide relevant evidence and documents.
The survey will assist the AFAP to identify members with direct experience of issues such as:
- standby and reserve;
- hours of work and overtime;
- training bonds;
- fatigue-related arrangements;
- roster changes and displacement;
- meal breaks and layovers; and
- annual leave and related Award issues.
If you have direct experience in any of these areas, we strongly encourage you to complete the survey.
Some members may later be asked whether they are willing to provide documents, further information, or a witness statement. Not every member who completes the survey will be required to go further. But a strong response from members will materially strengthen the AFAP’s ability to resist the erosion of conditions and to advance improvements.
This is an important industry case
These proceedings go to fundamental questions, including:
- what counts as working time;
- when pilots should be paid overtime;
- how far employers can shift business and training costs onto pilots;
- how secure roster, leave and rest protections really are; and
- what minimum standards will shape the future of bargaining in the industry.
This is an important industry case, and the outcome will matter.
If pilots want to protect hard-won standards, resist attempts to weaken conditions, and help build a stronger industrial foundation for the future, this is the time to be involved.
What you can do
When the survey is circulated, please respond if you have relevant experience.
If you hold useful documents, please consider making them available.
If you can assist further, please do so.
The stronger the evidence, the stronger the AFAP’s ability to defend and improve pilot conditions.
Please look out for the survey and play your part.
Regards,
AFAP Legal