Qantas EBA9

Discussions continue for Qantas EBA 9

Details

Published on Wednesday, 21 July, 2010

The National Negotiating Team met with Qantas on 13 July 2010. We continued to discuss a number of our claims with the company.  Here is a summary:

Claim: Notice of roster changes

In particular at this meeting we focussed on our claim to increase the notice for roster changes and shift changes. We have been able to show a significant number of examples where changes are made to rosters in such a way that it provides no certainty for employees – particularly part timers.

We have been able to table analysis of rostering which shows the frequency of company roster changes which are sometimes ridiculous – sometimes minor and sometimes major.

Management has been unable to adequately explain why the roster changes are so significant in number and why no certainty can be injected into rosters.

The ASU reps from airports have highlighted many examples of changes which disrupt the lives of staff but don’t seem to add much to the operation.

There has been much discussion of the way in which iRoster operates to cause problems.

Our claim is to extend the time for the notification of roster and shift changes.  Management is resisting putting certainty into rostering saying our proposals are not reasonable.  It appears they think it is reasonable for rosters that are initially issued to bear little or no resemblance to what ends up being worked.

The discussion and negotiation continues.

Claim: 5%p.a. payrise

NNT members detailed extensive materials about CPI, inflation, the increase in male total average weekly earnings since 1999 and the comparison to the pay rises of ASU covered Qantas staff.  We also highlighted how productivity and efficiency has increased by over 27% as measured against the number of ASKs (Average Seat Kilometres; an airline measurement tool) per employee.

What was further highlighted was how since 2000 Executive remuneration at Qantas had risen at rates well above CPI, and in particular your NNT noted that when former CEO Geoff Dixon retired in 2009 he was the highest paid airline executive in the world, and that his additional payment before retirement of $12.1m was 2.4% of Qantas’ profit for 2008/09.

We noted that in a recent speech Sue Bussell, Head of Qantas IR, said that a 1% pay rise across Qantas added $37m to total costs.  As ASU members represent about 1/3 of the workforce our additional costs per extra 1% over 3% is about $12.3m (but probably less given the wage rates of ASU members!).

A 2% additional payrise over the usual 3% represents 0.168% of Qantas’ revenue for financial year 2009, not much when you consider what Geoff Dixon was paid.

Qantas says they are going to analyse what was said – we look forward to hearing the response as to why we are not worth the respect of a decent payrise.

Claim: Reclassification claims

We have tabled a number of claims and await further discussion next meeting.

Claim: Modernising of our Awards

We discussed this at a meeting on 9 July.  We want our Awards to be modernised and finalised by agreement as part of the EBA 9 negotiations.  Qantas management seem reluctant about this claim and are considering their position.  We expect a response on 21 July.  This does not look like a good sign and we need to stand together to protect Award standards.

Claim: Removing Ambiguities from EBA9

Both the ASU and Qantas tabled clauses that we believe need rewording.  A further meeting to discuss the response is on 21 July.

Qantas Management Claims

Here is an update on the progress of these claims:

Change in payroll weeks – payroll realignment

Qantas spent significant time on explaining their “payroll realignment claim” which is essentially a change in the payroll cycle from 1 week in arrears and one week in advance to 2 weeks in arrears.

The company contends that this change will significantly reduce the payroll errors for the 1 week in advance pay as it will instead be what was actually worked, not just what was rostered.

The ongoing changes to rosters and shifts described above are a significant contribution to pay inaccuracies.

This is the company solution, but your NNT believe better resourcing of payroll locally is needed as well as compensation for the pay week change.

We expect to hear more on the company claims next meeting.

What’s next?

Meetings of members are going to be held to discuss progress to date and also what our response should be to management claims.  Watch out for more details locally

Next meeting

Meetings are scheduled as follows:

• 21 July – Ambiguities and Modern Award
• 26 July – QFIT 1-10 meeting only
• 4 August – QF EBA
• 16 August – QF EBA