Virgin Blue EBA

[ccguy]

I hope they are ready for alot of backlash and questions that need serious answers... available money no longer being paid, being able to extend you airport hours whenever they feel like it. That is just not right. There are many of us that have children and to think that we have an airport from 0700 -1200 and then to be phoned and told that we will have to be there till 14.00 is ridiculous. What happens to little Sammy that needs to be picked up from creche at 13.00 because according to my roster I finished at 12.00!!!!! We are not puppets and should be making our points very clear.

Keeponsmiling, I have had a good look (very good look in fact) over the EBA, and while I still have a few questions that need answering, I think a couple of things you have mentioned need to be clarified. What happens if you are on an Airport now and are called out at 5 mins to 1200?? You would have to arrange to have someone to pick up Johnny from creche anyway. Being on airport means that you can be called to fly at anytime from 0700-1200 anyway. Under the new EBA, anytime spent on Airport will still count towards your rostered hours so it wouldn't be in VB's best interest to ALWAYS extend the Airport hours as you would run out of hours and according to point 6.17 (q) Duty time spent on airport standby will count for roster overtime purposes and fatigue avoidance limitations.


As for Available Days, they will exist but they will be called Optional Days. You can elect to work on these days or not. So you will have a choice. And you have no obligation to accept a duty unless you have nominated to request a shift on that day. You will still be paid for working a shift on these days, $150 for a shift up to 6 hours and $250 for a shift over 6 hours. Also, you will only be drafted once a month maximum. At the moment, you can be drafted on any day off.

I hope everyone out there, new or old to the company takes a long hard look at the new EBA and doesn't just vote for what Joe Bloggs is doing because you can't be bothered reading it properly yourself. This is our life guys and if it is signed in it is here to stay for a very long time!!!

All in all, I have had my partner read over the EBA too so that I had an unbiased opinion on what was contained inside. He has been able to explain a lot more of the jargon to me to help me to make an INFORMED decision. I still have questions that need answering and I hope that these will be answered when I attend one of the EBA meeting in the next few weeks. I urge you to seek clarity on the conditions rather than going into these meetings with all guns blazing. I admit, when I first read the EBA, I wasn't very happy at all. But I believe that it had to do with the fact that I didn't really understand all the conditions set out in each section. I am not going to say I am 100% happy at the moment, but I am hoping that the meetings will clarify further questions I have.

Let's hope we can sort this EBA out as soon as possible. I for one am sick of waiting for it all to be sorted out and really want one less thing to think about. Here's hoping for a quick resolution.

Cheers,