LRT
Yes guilty as charged regarding members. But the main point at the outset was to correct the often misleading info published about the Federation.
The WIFM was in fact the name of information packs we used to send out to prospective members,
To answer your questions the current legislation has changed the direction of the Award system and one of he reasons that little appears to be happening on it is that only some clauses are now enforceable which changes each time the Federal Government gets concerned about the next election.
There has been a review by the Award Review Taskforce chaired by a Senior Deputy President of the Industrial Relations Commission. This in turn has now been referred to the Fair Pay Commission. In the end the current policy is to remove industry Awards totally. As it is an unknown it is difficult for us to update the respondents list.
1. If the pilot accepts less than an award rate then it makes it difficult. In terms of the company they in most states need to be a respondent named or a successor to a named party. The recent legislation was to remove the succession clause effect.
2. The respondents list is updated when possible and as needed (bearing in mind the review). We have common rule available in Victoria because they ceded their powers to the Commonwealth. In other States there are still State General awards we will be reviewing once the legislation outcome is known and that probably will not occur until the Federal election is out of the way.
3. The Award rates have fallen behind on basis that you cannot vary for general increases without a full wage case which in effect was removed under work choices. The current wage system is based upon enterprise negotiations only and the current award rates are frozen in time as minimums and as such fall behind what the Fair Pay Case decision has determined as the Federal minimum rate. The short answer is that the current Awards do not reflect a fair outcome in my view but the legislation equally makes it near impossible to amend Catch-22 comes to mind.
4. The Federation is opposed to AWA’s for pilots but having said that we have worked with members where they apply. It is hardly choice if the employer refuses to give choice of a collective agreement as against an AWA on the same terms. Our experience is that AWA’s provide less overall and place the individual under pressure and are mainly used to ensure that the group does not unite. Our preference is a collective agreement negotiated and applicable to all pilots of that employee which is completely transparent.
5. Industrial action is always a last resort and will only occur when supported by the pilots involved. Can I say in 89 that pilots voted at meetings 95% to take action it was not something dreamt up and enacted by one or two people. Legislation has now changed which deals with these issues and some would not be able to occur in any case. Regards blacklists and the like the Act deals with it now specifically could I also make the point that yes there was a campaign against those who returned and commitments given to the AIRC in March 90 by the Federation but the company at the request of those individuals refused to employ Federation members. I will point out that I will not be responding further on this in any future postings as it dredges emotions on both sides and I am only responding in terms of the historical record.
6. Legal representation is always based upon advice of all involved. The initial situation is through the staff often we will get a legal opinion about the potential of success or otherwise. Ultimately the finance committee makes the decision as to how far we go this will always involve consultation and explanation to the member. The member has rights of appeal to the executive committee and the convention under our rules. This can be difficult for some people to accept due to emotional involvement in the outcome but has worked successfully for the body since its inception; I can point to cases that have been won against the odds and others that we thought a certainty lost comprehensively.
FHead
The Federation provides assistance and support beyond the industrial issues in areas such as incident/accident. We also work hard campaigning against costs imposed such as you refer these are done through the forums which has seen a little movement but not the outcome sought. We are working on issues such Drug an alcohol; FMS; the MPL proposal amongst others. we also attempt to work with other bodies in the industry in the past we did so with AOPA until their agenda was highjacked by personal interests. we would like to do so again in the future. As a body we are designed for pilots flying for pay and rewards.
Lawrie Cox