JETSTAR

Pilot Federation

Negotiations for a new Jetstar Enterprise Agreement (EA) restarted in March this year following a two year pause in bargaining due to the pandemic. Given it had been over three years since the AFAP initially surveyed members in relation to claims for a new EA, and in recognition that pilot’s priorities and expectations may have changed since this time, the AFAP resurveyed members before resuming bargaining to ensure our approach to bargaining and claims for a new EA properly reflect the interests and objectives of our members.

The survey showed most members supported the AFAP continuing to pursue claims and improvements in bargaining and that there was little support for a basic rollover agreement incorporating the Qantas Group Wages Policy. Remuneration remained the most important issue for pilots, ahead of improvements to lifestyle and flexible work arrangements.

With this in mind, the AFAP returned to the bargaining table seeking a less hostile bargaining environment than what had transpired in 2019 (culminating in PIA commencing prior to and over the Christmas period in 2019/2020) and a more collaborative approach. Rather than presenting Jetstar with a traditional list of claims, we outlined our five key interests (appropriate remuneration, improving pilots’ work/life balance, roster stability, recognition of equal role as a pilot in the Qantas Group and clarifying existing clauses) and a range of possible solutions to address these interests.

Our objective was to work collaboratively with Jetstar to explore solutions suitable to both parties as opposed to presenting fixed and/or pre-determined claims and have them rejected by the company. While Jetstar initially seemed receptive to this, it was not willing to engage in an interest-based bargaining approach and ultimately insisted that the AFAP outline specific claims. We have now presented a number of specific claims to reflect the views of members (as indicated in the EA survey) and to address the shortcomings in the current EA. We reserved our position on remuneration so the parties could focus on improving other important areas of the EA in the first instance, recognising that where we land on these ‘lifestyle’ areas of the ‘package’ may shape future claims in relation to salaries and allowances.

So far discussions have been constructive and Jetstar has been receptive to many of the proposals/ concepts put forward. In contrast to 2019, the Company representatives appear to understand the issues we are seeking to address and why these are important to us.

While the company’s willingness to genuinely explore some of the concepts/claims has been refreshing, we are frustrated at the slow pace of the negotiations when Jetstar pilots are operating to an EA that nominally expired in April 2019 and have not had a pay increase for more than four years. If Jetstar does not accommodate the AFAP’s requests for more regular and intensive meetings we will have to review our bargaining approach.

While concluding an EA at Jetstar has been the top priority for the JPF Committee this year the recent announcement by Alan Joyce regarding the 2022 Recovery Boost Payment (a one-off discretionary payment of $5,000 available to EBA-covered employees), which Jetstar pilot’s eligibility for is conditional on a new agreement being made within nine months, has made the timely resolution of a new EA even more critical.

Additionally, while we appreciate the notion of bonus payments, having all these preconditions, deadlines and restrictions takes a lot of the shine off the bonus. We question why management can’t simply recognise the extremely difficult times the pilot group has experienced during Covid, recognise the sacrifice many pilots made over the last two years, and begin to share these payments without the threat to withhold or cancel them.

The ongoing chaos pilots see every day whilst flying the line will make resolving a new EA even more difficult now that flying has returned to greater than pre-Covid levels and pilots are back to operating normal rosters. Many are experiencing significant delays, disruption and cancellation every time they go to work. While the company narrative is that capacity will be reduced by approximately 10% due to higher fuel prices, a more likely explanation is that Jetstar is cancelling flights due to an acute crew shortage. If Jetstar management is genuine about improving pilot engagement, it needs to seek to address our concerns and claims and not use tactics such as linking bonuses to pilots accepting wage freeze deals and a substandard new agreement.

Jetstar A320 aircraft flying over Brisbane (Photo: Brad Collins)