EASTERN Pilot Federation

Following the recent nomination process for vacancies on the Eastern Pilot Council (EPC) all positions were filled and the new Council members met for the first time on 31 May in Sydney.

The EPC brings an balanced spread of experience and rank with equal representaton of Captains and First Officers ensuring a good foundation as we head into possibly difficult EA negotiations.

Negotiations & Foreign Pilot Labour

Earlier in the year, the EPC conducted a survey of its members to help develop the log of claims. At the subsequent meeting the main elements of the claim were spelt out:

• Increase pay well above the 3% to ensure Fair Work ratification. As with Jetstar, retain the relativities between the ranks.

• To address ‘loyalty’ and retention, have additional pay points for length of service and increased loyalty payments for those remaining in Eastern.

• Fairly remunerate FOs achieving 2000 hours.

• Recognising the majority of pilots operate out of two expensive cities (Melbourne and Sydney) – so some sort of ‘city weighting’.

• Seek to obtain the same Super clause that Sunstate pilots have enjoyed for some time, namely 1% over the super guarantee rate.

• Extend the DHA to cover all time away from home base (without loss of other allowances).

• Ensure all allowances are increased not by 3% but by CPI or 3% whichever the greater.

• Update the Jet rates contained in the EA to reflect industry standard.

Just prior to the last negotiating meeting in April a bombshell was dropped with the company seeking to request to sponsor from overseas - two Dash 8 pilots per year for the next five years and three simulator instructors per year for the next five years - which was effectively an admission that Qantaslink cannot attract or retain pilots.

Both the Sunstate and Eastern Pilot Councils were wholeheartedly opposed to this request, which was especially bizarre as during the EA meetings the company had maintained their line that recruitment and retention was not a problem and that adherence to the 'Wages Policy’ would still have to occur.

This paradox was subsequently highlighted with the Company as the negotiating team spelt out in no uncertain terms that the wages in Eastern (and Qantaslink) were so poor that there had to be a radical overhaul of the salary structure to rectify the problems of their own making and that the company had to move away from this inflexible wages policy approach that was hurting Eastern pilots and forcing current pilots to look elsewhere for more lucrative jobs.

The company representatives were, surprisingly, taken aback by the forceful application of this argument and consequently the follow up meeting in May was cancelled as they indicated they needed to look closely into how to address our concerns.

The recent wages review that delivered 5.75% increases to Awards will also significantly impact negotiations on the basis that the entry rates in Eastern would now be well below the Award rate.

The most recent Pilot Council also confirmed that the level of discontent within the pilot group was growing significantly and so future negotiations could well prove difficult throughout 2023.