Qantas EBA9

All we want for Christmas is 5% at Qantas

Details

Published on Wednesday, 15 December, 2010

The pace of negotiations has been picking up as we head into the festive season. Your National Negotiating Team (NNT) are still working hard on our EBA. Yet we continue to be met by delay - Qantas still refuses to give us a pay rise figure in response to our wage claim, and instead trot out the same argument again and again about how tough it is to compete with Virgin. How hard is it we have to ask ourselves?

Many members are attending meetings about the current state of play - so this Bulletin includes the latest information from the meetings on the 29th of November and 9th of December 2010.

So where are we at?

The following is a summary of what has been discussed:

Resolving a number of ambiguities and anomalies

To date these issues have been discussed in a side meeting to ensure the large negotiations don’t get bogged down in uncontroversial detail. A number of the ambiguities have now been resolved and these agreed clauses were reported back the EBA9 meeting on the 9th of December.

There are still significant areas of ambiguity where we disagree. For example the issue of which airport is ‘Perth International Airport’ is still a sticking point. The EBA provides that in clause 41.9.1 (b) workers at Perth International Airport will receive a 12 hour break and for forever and a day that has been interpreted to include both airport terminals - domestic and international. However most recently local management changed their interpretation and now claim it only refers to the international terminal. This has resulted in workers at the domestic terminal losing the entitlement to a 12 hour break between shifts.

This is one example of where the meaning of just a couple of words in the EBA can have significant impact on people on the ground. The ASU will continue to pursue this and a number of other areas of ambiguity where we want the EBA to be clearer.

Consultation and dispute resolution

The ASU provided further detail on Claim 20 regarding the consultation and dispute settlement procedure. Our claim is to ensure that our members have representation when they need it. This is currently not occurring.

Union delegates have been told they are not allowed to participate in performance reviews, sick leave counselling or investigations. We want to ensure that the consultation and dispute resolution procedure includes the right for union representatives to participate where they have been asked by the member for support and/or advocacy.

Show us the money

We know that this remains the priority for members and people want to know what Qantas is offering. At this stage the answer is... just more talk.

Qantas refuse to give us a figure in response to our claim of 5%. They just keep referring back to the assertion that Qantas employees in ASU ranks are 12% ahead of Virgin in the marketplace.

Your NNT have argued persuasively that their jobs do not equate with Virgin, because Qantas is a premium carrier and has complexities due to the variety and size of the aircraft, flights and destinations that are not present at Virgin. Comparing the two is comparing apples with oranges. In addition, it appears the comparison with Virgin is only relevant in ASU ranks - they refuse to discuss any comparison between executives at Virgin and Qantas.

The most galling response was managements comment that things had become a lot tougher in freight after the cartel action. The worldwide fines imposed on Qantas for anti - competitive behaviour in air cargo market have now reached in excess of $70m. This would fund our wage claim several times over. Competition may be tough when you can't collude - but that's no excuse for short-changing your workforce.

Qantas claims

At our meeting on 29th November 2010 - we discussed Qantas' claims in details as follows:

Mascot allowance

Our research shows that this allowance was introduced when the curfew was introduced at Sydney Airport. Workers at that site lost the ability to access the night shift allowance of 22.5% and so in recognition that their earning capacity had been reduced Qantas introduced the 17% shift allowance. This disparity in earning capacity remains for workers at Mascot while the curfew remains in place. Qantas were not aware of the history of this clause and will consider the evidence presented and get back to us.

Automatic cash out for 20th day accrued in excess of 10 days

Qantas has put forward this claim in an effort to reduce what they see as the excessive accrual of rostered days off by some employees. Their contention is there are a significant number of people who have in excess of 10 RDO's accrued.

We remain cautious about this proposal. We have requested more information to see if the excessive accrual is clustered in a particular area. We are aware for example that it is very difficult to access RDOs in a number of areas including QFCL because of poor rostering. The NNT doesn't want to see a situation where cashing out of RDO's becomes the norm.

Payroll Realignment

The realignment of payroll from one week in advance, and one in arrears, to two week in arrears may improve payment accuracy but it will also result in disruption and inconvenience for members. We are willing to consider the proposal if Qantas can adequately compensate workers for the week they go without pay in moving from one payroll timetable to the next. Our proposal is two weeks pay for all staff.

Temporary employees

Qantas want to extend the period for which they can employ temporary employees.

We do not want to see this result in less permanent jobs.

What's next

The next EBA 9 meeting is on Wednesday 22nd December 2010.

There is also an airport rostering meeting scheduled for Wednesday 15 December 2010.

The ASU is also conducting meetings of members across the country so make sure you attend a meeting to get an update on all our claims and our action plan.

If you want more information talk to your local organiser or delegate or National Negotiating Team member.