Originally Posted by
Rated De
From QF IR's perspective having overplayed their hand, perhaps an acquiescent union will put a hasty "deal" to their pilots....
Rated - you and I both know that AIPA has recommended the revised SH EA. It will be up to the pilot group to once again decide whether they think the agreement is suitable (I actually don’t know the feeling amongst the troops with regard to this revised offer).
AIPA have still been in negotiations with JQ as well. The issue with this is that AIPA represent under 20% of the pilot group at JQ, so even if they reached a deal with JQ management and every one of their members voted YES to a subsequent agreement, in all likelihood the agreement would be voted down convincingly. Given this, JQ management’s decision to essentially not meet with the AFAP perhaps indicates how serious they are in trying to get an agreement up.
What is more difficult to understand is the thought process AIPA is going through at JQ. They are the clear minority union, yet are still actively meeting with the company (and taking a very adversarial approach towards the AFAP). Because they would not get involved in PIA (despite their negotiators at the time pushing for exactly that), they lost about 100 JQ members. After continuing to negotiate with JQ, if AIPA come to an agreement with the company, and the EA subsequently gets voted down, where does that leave AIPA as an organisation representing JQ pilots? I think it is important that unions have healthy relationships with employers, but this can’t be at the expense (or against the wishes) of the majority of the pilot group (the union’s members!).
A rare opportunity presents itself when you have QF SH, QF LH and JQ agreements all up for negotiation - now is the perfect opportunity for AIPA to show that they could be a very strong organisation industrially - however, they just seem to be missing the mark as they seem to not want to rock the boat.