I reviewed the entire agreement for my other half and a few good Virgin friends.
Certainly it has 'improved' slightly but the prescriptions and lack thereof in some sections are definately red flags for anyone with half a brain.
Bottom line is that you are giving up rights for future negotiations, appellant rights in disputes and even more concerning is that the company becomes the superior entity in determining all of those very broadly mentioned disruption/economic viability factors etc etc., All of these are real losses for what is essentially a lower hourly rate of pay* that is not even indexed to CPI. (*based on the pay at 28 at 140 ) Plus the aggregating of sundry allowances also means that tax options are reduced. Similarly, the descriptions in the EBA also close off avenues for tax decuctions - telephone expenses is one such example.
The redundancy clauses are scary - and the connotations attached to areas such as 'performance monitoring etc' are draconian to say the least.
Areas of the document are written in first person, other areas in third person. Some clauses are far from prescriptive and in terms of contact obligations, quite contradictory. There is no doubt that the document has not had any professional due diligence processes applied .
Further, there is so much of the EBA that is effected by the cascading 'work rules'.
These 'rules' are the things that are interpretative practices that company, in the absence of a collective representative (ie such as a union), has the final say. Put simply the company negotiates with itself and you can bet the outcome will be 'screw the crew.'
As for the warnings of "there is only one way to vote" etc stupidly parrotted by some Mangers and even more foolishly believed by inarticulate and immature crew ...................I suggest a reality check.
VB won't go down - even with V bleeding cash - but remember that this agreement
DOES give the company the ability to contract, redploy and reduce
VB domestic crew pay and conditions if one of the related businesses takes a hit. (So if a
VB investment such as V, pacBlue or dare I say a wrong punt with the forex markets or locking in a fuel hedge too late in game - is stuffed up and creates a loss ...the EBA has scope for the DJ crew to take the hit. You can be absolutely g'teed that the Exec contracts won't carry this risk)
The other consideration not covered is that with B, C, & D pay scale crew - and the open door for casual crew, INCLUDING crew from other countries, the company has an open door to 'performance manage' the higher paid crew out and slot the cheaper ones in. The agreement has no protection mechnanisms that other airlines have such as limits of the ratio between overseas crew to local crew and the number of casuals that can be engaged.
(Also read VB's wish list submissions to the Fed govts aviation green paper and you can see the huge risk to current crew if this agreement was to get up.)
As I said before I'm up front for another airline but I am very concerned for my partner and her friends. Our household has suffered from a month's leave without pay, and several months part time. For that matter it is almost three months since my polite and professional letter to "email me anytime Brett Godfrey" still remains unanswered - despite his promise to reply. I guess he does not like answering the hard questions.
IR is a partnership - sure the BLF style days of unions vs the management are (or should be) things of the past, however anyone signing up to this agreement is either very inexperienced or does not understand that the $2,500 sign on payment is less than the pay adjustments you are already owed and entitled to.
I would strongly suggest voting NO - and then formally requesting your union to properly represent you in professional responsible, transparent negotiations.
By the way,
VB cannot get the AIRC to overule you vote and force the agreement upon you as stupidly proclaimed by one highly overpaid (and overrated) small 'm' - manager.
If you are going have an EBA then get a real one that is fair and gives the business a chance at getting back to what is was and what it should - a really profitable excellent LCC.
Good Luck with it all
AT