This needs a thread of its own, not a hijacking of the Qlink thread. Below is the final submission to FWA.
Pursuant to the orders of the Full Bench, both Qantas and AIPA filed documents setting out proposed Workplace Determinations (the QWD and AWD respectively). The AWD and QWD are documents that contain each parties desired terms in settlement of the matters at issue. They reflect the claims made during bargaining. Each proposal reflects the “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” approach taken during the negotiations.
Leave without pay has been an important aspect of pilot employment arrangements for many years. It permits pilots to take time away from the company at times of surpluses without losing their relative seniority in the company. It further permits the maintenance of pilot regulatory requirements without additional expense to Qantas and provides opportunities for individuals to accommodate relevant experience which assists Qantas with their promotional criteria. Additionally, it also permits the company a mechanism of reducing pilot numbers at times of surpluses without having to make redundancy payments or losing the relationship with a pilot in whom significant investment has been made.
As discussed elsewhere, the nature of the employment relationship between Qantas and its pilots (like comparable other airlines) is of extraordinarily high levels of retention and employment stability notwithstanding a very cyclical business. Leave without pay has classically been one of the measures employed for this to occur.
An improvement to the leave without pay provisions provides the easiest way for the Full Bench to create savings for Qantas other than by reducing pay, entitlements or conditions for pilots. The company's resistance to such clauses is, ultimately, baffling.
The basis of leave without pay is that for the period of leave without pay the pilot is not paid by Qantas, and is not subject (other than as specifically provided for under the LH Agreement) to the benefits and obligations of the long haul agreement. The pilot is paid at whatever rate is negotiated or required for any employer he/she works for during the period of leave without pay. The pilot has a right to return at the end of the leave without pay period, and retains their relative seniority.
Long haul pilots may seek leave without pay for three reasons:
(a) to work as a pilot for a different employing entity in the Qantas Group;
(b) to work as a pilot for an employing entity that is not in the Qantas Group; or
(c) to not work as a pilot at all.
AIPA does not seek changes for the leave without pay arrangements described in (b) and (c). AIPA's claims concern leave without pay arrangements where the pilot undertakes leave without pay and remains within the Qantas Group.
At present, the only specific process relating to leave without pay for Qantas pilots is the 'Jetstar MOU'. The Jetstar MOU sets out a basis for some Qantas pilots to obtain leave without pay to work at Jetstar Australia on a preferential basis. However, this arrangement is limited as:
(a) it does not assist pilots employed after 03 November 2004;
(b) it is limited to terms of 3 years, with no capacity for shorter or longer periods as may be required by Qantas/Jetstar, and no capacity for extension;
(c) pilots have one opportunity only to work at Jetstar under the MOU.
(d) There is no obligation on Jetstar or on Qantas to advise LHP’s of opportunities for leave without pay vacancies.
The current arrangement is also deficient as:
(a) it only covers Jetstar Australia. There are no processes that facilitate leave without pay to any other Jetstar company, or to the range of other entities within the Qantas group that employ pilots such as Jetconnect, EFA or Qantaslink.
(b) the industrial instrument that gives effect to the Jetstar MOU for long haul pilots is in fact the Jetstar pilots agreement. The relevant provisions are vulnerable to change or removal pursuant to the arrangements between Jetstar and Jetstar pilots.
While limited and deficient, the Jetstar MOU has provided Qantas assistance in relieving the current surplus while avoiding retrenchment, and has provided long haul pilots new opportunities during a period of limited advancement within Qantas.
All of the Workplace Determinations contain provisions that continue the operation of the Jetstar MOU.
However, AIPA submits that the Full Bench should incorporate additional measures to facilitate and encourage the taking of leave without pay for Qantas pilots. This is because of the clear benefits that such arrangements have for both Qantas and pilots. Specifically:
(a) it saves Qantas significant amounts of money as they do not need to pay pilots for whom there is no work to be done;
(b) it buys Qantas time to ensure that the amount of flying is appropriate for the number of pilots employed, without having to go to the expense of retrenching pilots and then reemploying them a couple of years later;
(c) it avoids the need for retrenchments;
(d) by providing pilots opportunities to undertake new and different work without leaving the Qantas Group, it minimises the possibility of pilots in whom Qantas has
invested significant resources, resigning their employment to take up work elsewhere;
(e) it provides pilots new and different opportunities at times when there are limited opportunities within Qantas.
The key ways in which a provision may assist leave without pay is by assisting the identification of vacancies, assisting with obtaining endorsements (the licence to operate the aircraft), and providing a mechanism for pilots to access appropriate positions in the other entities. There has been very little leave without pay to entities in the Qantas Group (outside the Jetstar MOU) in part because Qantas pilots would need to enter those entities as the most junior pilots.
The AWD proposal
The AWD seeks to incorporate provisions facilitating leave without pay:
(a) by "requiring Qantas to "distribute, as soon as practicable, advertisements for pilot positions with other members of the Qantas Group."
(b) by ensuring other Qantas Group Members consider long haul pilots applications before considering applications from external applicants. No preference against applicants from other Qantas Group companies is sought.
(c) by requiring Qantas to "supply the subsidiary company with such relevant information on the pilot and the pilot's personnel file as the pilot directs."
(d) "grant any request for leave without pay provided that the request is for a period of 12 months or more, and the request would not create a shortage of pilots in Qantas."
(e) facilitate costs associated with the leave without pay. There would be very limited circumstances where the company would be required to pay such costs. In almost all cases the pilot would pay the cost. Qantas would be prevented from profiting from the endorsement process.
(f) ensure that the Qantas subsidiary company provide the pilot with the appropriate level of seniority commensurate with their service in Qantas. AIPA seeks to generalise and extend the practice that currently exists in the Jetstar MOU. As discussed below the MOU applies to Qantas pilots taking leave without pay to work for Jetstar Airways Pty Limited. The Association seeks to make QAL ensure that where LHPs obtain positions with other Qantas Group entities those pilots are provided seniority in the other group company commensurate with their seniority at QAL.
These proposed obligations would not create any significant additional financial burden on Qantas. It would only be obliged to provide leave without pay to the extent it could do so without causing a shortage of pilots within its own ranks. The endorsement costs (which Qantas may later benefit from) are met by the pilot, albeit at cost.
The current agreement contains a number of provisions that are expressed to continue to apply to pilots while on leave without pay to Jetstar. These provisions (which, for example permit a pilot to remain with their Qantas superannuation fund in the event they make up the difference in contributions) do not impose any cost other than administrative costs on Qantas. These provisions are extended in the AWD to also apply to incidences of leave without pay to other Qantas Group Companies.
Group seniority is great, as long as you are senior
