As someone who has a little bit of experience in this arena, I can assure you that the only path to a better outcome is to convince the company you are prepared to take industrial action. Without that, you may make some incremental gains on what is already on the table, but basically you are at the end of the negotiating phase. Industrial action is legal for a reason. Without the ability to withdraw your labour, you have very limited leverage in the fight. Sure, you can take all your sick days, refuse drafts, go fatigued etc, but that is minor inconvenience. Approved industrial action hits the bottom line immediately because forward booking dry up almost immediately, and that's about the only thing that will make private equity Tsars pay attention.
- Step 1, make sure the company knows that the union recommendation is not supported by the members, which makes the company aware that doing sweetheart deals with union won't get the job done.
- Step 2, informally gauge the will to take industrial action. This needs to be informal because if you take formal poll and it comes back negative, you're screwed. Once the company understands there is no appetite for industrial action, the fight is lost. If the appetite does exist, procedd to step 3.
- Step 3. Proceed to a formal ballot for industrial action. Once that is in your pocket, you have some serious negotiation power.
All that said, there is much risk associated with this path as it may lead to
actual industrial action, and as we have seen in the past, that can lead to unexpected consequences. However, if Australian pilots are forever going to run scared because of past events , then accept the offer on the table an move on.
Lastly, the biggest problem for Australian pilots in the industrial landscape is the unwillingness of the vast majority of union members to lift a finger to help the cause. View pilots in America. They get out in their uniforms with signs advocating for their conditions. Australian pilots sit behind keyboards and complain that somebody should do something. Great gains only come great effort and great risk. Remember, the delegates are just your representatives, don't expect them to do anything you wouldn't do yourself.