ACT Crusader:
Is there an AULAEA- Australian unlicensed aircraft engineers association ?
Yes it would seem there is - the AWU and AMWU.....
You've hit the nail the head ACT Crusader. The AWU/AMWU/CEPU is exactly and appropriately where unlicensed aircraft engineers (aka AMEs) are covered.
And this seems to be one of the key issues in dispute and may well require some form of legal ruling/precedent to resolve it once and for all.
Can it be successfully argued that completion of a task is also the supervision of that very same task?
In my very humble opinion, the key fact of the issue is that the holder of a Category A Licence is a Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (LAME) and therefore, the appropriate union to cover them is the ALAEA.
I believe this fact will, in the end, be the key determinant in the resolution of this case. I see any other arguments as diversionary to this basic fact.