Qantas said there was a firm deadline of the end of 2019, ”No deal then No aeroplanes will be ordered”
Then we got there and they said, ”well actually the deadline is now March, No deal by then and No aeroplanes will be ordered”
Approaching March and, ”well actually we will order the plane with or without a deal but you have a deadline to vote Yes or someone else will fly it”
Notice something about each of these supposedly immovable deadlines??? They were all dreamt up by Qantas as a negotiating tactic to put pressure on the pilots. When they arrived suddenly there was more time to negotiate or the threat didn’t eventuate. Why are you so sure this time they are for real? They could easily order the aircraft and negotiate the EA later while still holding onto their threat of an “external entity”.
The garbage about “needing certainty” before placing an order is clearly false as the external entity plan has ZERO certainty. What is the pay, how will rosters work if only flying ULH, can we find and train enough pilots in time, do the numbers stack up without the MVF, S/O pay cuts and what might Fair Work say if AIPA challenge it based on the Integration Agreement. Definitely no “certainty” on that path.
If it’s a sh1t deal, vote no and go back to the negotiating table.
What everyone should realise is that it doesn’t matter if you work for Qantas or Jetstar or Virgin or Tiger or Rex or anyone, at some point your employer can say “Accept this ****1y deal or we will buy new planes and you won’t fly them”. So as pilots are we automatically doomed to accept whatever is put before us at the first vote? If so then we are all screwed.