I'm surprised that this story from last week did not make it to PPRUNE so here it is"
Qantas pilot accord stalls
* Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
* February 09, 2007
ENTERPRISE bargaining negotiations between Qantas and its international pilots have stalled after the airline said an analysis of a union proposal showed the cost was 10 times more than the savings. Qantas wrote to its pilots on Wednesday to tell them it had suspended negotiations on the long-haul enterprise agreement pending discussions with their union, the Australian & International Pilots Association, about their EBA claim. It said an analysis by the Seabury Group had concluded that the five-year union proposal would save $61 million.
But it would boost salaries by $244 million, increase superannuation costs by $187 million and bolster training costs by $246 million.
"As it currently stands, the position put by AIPA is too expensive, too complex and not sustainable," Qantas executive general manager, people, Kevin Brown said in the memo.
The parties are due to meet again today to discuss the assumptions underpinning the Seabury analysis. AIPA general manager Peter Somerville said the union would be questioning the assumptions and was disappointed its consultants had not been included in the calculation of the costings.
Mr Somerville said Seabury was the consultant that Qantas had used to slash costs in its maintenance division.
He said the union's consultants had already highlighted issues with the Qantas costings.
The new figures, for example, set pilot on-costs such as leave, superannuation and payroll tax at 16 per cent when they had estimated it at 40 per cent when it suited them in deals with short-haul pilots.
"We want to make sure that what we're putting on the table is verifiable and justified," Mr Somerville said.
He said it was "a bit rich" for Qantas to get its own costing done and then write to the pilots.
"It's all about systematic marginalisation of the union," he said.
"We want to play the game co-operatively, constructively; and we want to have good negotiations done quickly and privately. We're aiming at being responsible negotiators."
The story just about speaks for itself and is proof perfect that pilots should be left to fly the aeroplanes and management be left to run the airline. Someone needs to tell Mr Somerville that Qantas would know best about its cost base, nor AIPA , its members or its consultants.