ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE

RFDS Western Operations

A new enterprise agreement (EA) was voted up by RFDS WO pilots in May and is currently before the Fair Work Commission undergoing the approval process. It has significant benefits for the pilots.:

• Up to an 18% increase to base salary (depending on years of service) upon agreement commencement

• Annual increases of 3%, with the final increase to occur just before the nominal expiry date of the agreement

• Up to $15,000 payment (depending on years of service) upon agreement commencement

• An $8,000 retention payment after 24 months

• Clarifications and certainty around PC24 type bonding

• Improved rostering provisions, providing more certainty

• A nominal expiry date three years from agreement commencement.

Negotiations for this EA began in September 2021 and were dragged out because of inaction on the part of the company, and because we had to deal with a completely new RFDS WO management negotiation team.

Because of the sub-standard offers from the RFDS WO, it was necessary to apply for a protected industrial action (PIA) ballot order which was overwhelmingly voted up by AFAP members. This had the intended effect of the RFDS WO moving towards a more realistic offer, and it was not necessary to take the PIA,

We are pleased negotiations have concluded and resulted in an offer acceptable to the pilots. This agreement will form a good base for negotiating again in three years.

RFDS Central Operations

After nearly 18 months of negotiations, a new RFDS CO EA has almost been concluded. Drafting is completed and the EA will lodged with the FWC in July if the pilot ballot currently underway is succesful. The AFAP is recommending acceptance of the new EA.

The length of negotiations was not helped with long pauses and last minute changes from the employer, after an in-principle agreement had been reached early2023. (or so the negotiating team believed).

The result of these frustrating delay tactics undertaken by company management was that the AFAP had to undertake further member consultation in the first quarter of 2023 where, in light of the pressing economic conditions and with high pilot turnover, the AFAP was urgently seeking a resolution on a number of key issues

The potential new deal will hopefully bring the RFDS CO EA up to a proper standard and assist in reducing the currently high turnover within the operation.

RFDS Queensland

Negotiations for a new EA started early-May following up on an EA variation negotiated mid-2022 (and supported in the subsequent ballot by a majority of pilots) that extended the nominal expiry date of the existing EA to 31 August 2023. There was an increase in the hourly rate for work on a RDO, and an agreement to pay a salary increase of 5.5% from 1 July 2022.

The current negotiations are not for a short-term variation, but for a brand new EA to last 3-4 years. The early stage of negotiations have both RFDS QLD management and the AFAP bargaining team discussing their respective Logs of Claims for the new EA.

The AFAP reps have advised that the pilot group seeks many changes to the existing EA, including increases to various remuneration items, greater flexibility around accessing annual leave, changes to a number of current rostering restrictions, improvements in the ’Remote Area Package’ for pilots who are based in western Queensland, along with a range of other singular issues.

The pilot group is aware of the outcomes of recent EA negotiations in other RFDS operations around Australia, as well as other ongoing negotiations in other employee groups within RFDS QLD. They have been stressing to management that the operation has been consistently short of pilots for many years and this needs resolving.

RFDS South Eastern Section

The RDFS SES has recently initiated bargaining for a new EA which will bring all pilots based in New South Wales (Bankstown, Broken Hill and Dubbo), Launceston and Essendon together under a single agreement and replace the existing operation specific EAs which have operated historically in NSW, Launceston and Dubbo. Overall, the AFAP supports the objective of the RFDS SE to move to one EA for all RFDS SES pilots no matter where they are located and have greater alignment in pilot salaries and conditions across the organisation,

The AFAP RFDS SES negotiating committee's pilot representatives Shane Brooke (Broken Hill), Mark Woods (Mascot) Jesse Hawtree (Launceston) and Brett Reynish (Dubbo) along with the AFAP's Deanna Cain have complied and submitted a log of claims based on the member feedback. The AFAP’s claims include a simplified salary structure (i.e. a base salary inclusive of all salary allowances and additions), pay parity for Launceston pilots who are currently paid much less than their NSW counterparts for performing essentially the same job and the introduction of an Equal Time Roster which would bring RFDS SES in line with other aeromedical organisations and other industry EAs.

Bargaining has not progressed any further than the parties exchanging a log of claims, however the discussions so far have been positive.