Avl Days
I recieved this email today, it is spot on. posted for those not in the faaa, hope its readable:
Attention: All Virgin Blue Cabin Crew
AVAILABLE (AVL) DAYS
It is timely to remind members about the history of Available (AVL) Days and how this EBA provision was
negotiated between the FAAA and the Company:
AVL Days are days which are not a Designated Day Off. They are days on which no duty is
rostered but rather have an assigned contactability span where crew have no option but to be on-
call to receive duties as directed by the company and report within 2 hours of call out;
Originally there were very few AVL days per roster because daily duties were rarely rostered at
9:30 or for that matter over 8:30, so the spread of duty hours was across more days;
The requirement to be on-call on AVL days provided the company with flexibility and surety of
enough ‘back up’ resources to sustain the network’s flying commitments if Airport Reserve
coverage was depleted, by paying Cabin Crew AVL Day Rates when called-out, thereby saving
the cost of employing and paying additional Crew to be on-call for entire rosters of home reserve;
The AVL Day rate compensates for working over and above rostered workdays; it was an
agreed, fair and reasonable compensation given the nature of AVL days.
Members would be aware that the current full time base salary represents ordinary hours of 125 generally,
plus delay/creep on rostered duty days and call-out from Airport Reserve or Denominated AVL Days up to
140 hours monthly and 9 hours daily. (Daily overtime operates after 9hrs to recognise hours worked above
and beyond ordinary daily hours.)
AVL Day Rates represent a form of ‘overtime’ received for working on Nominated Available Days and is
compensation for working on days in addition to ordinary hours of work. It is not double-dipping. If the
company chooses to roster Crew well below or consistently below 125 hours, then this is the company’s
choice.
Sinc
the current Available Day provisions have to form part of a fair negotiated outcome in order to be accepted.
Any deficiencies in the rostering system to optimise crew to 125hrs per month prior to nominated AVL days
should not be entirely borne by crew.
When negotiations commence in good faith, AVL Days will continue to be a main focal point to ensure the
integrity of what an AVL Day is. Your FAAA Reps not only understand the intent of the current AVL Day
provisions, they are also aware the provisions which exist to ensure crew’s interests are protected, and not
disadvantaged on this very important issue.