Donner und Blitzen! Yes, Blitzkrieger a good result.
From Vice President Watson's
decision (the decision forms part of the public record).
[28] In my view the essence of the change with respect to [the pilot] was the movement away from Darwin. He did not wish to move but NJS’s business circumstances dictated that he do so. The necessity for a move is the key ingredient and the most appropriate clause is that which applies to the initiator of the move. In my view NJS was the initiator of the move away from Darwin. But for NJS’s business position, and [the pilot]’s position on the seniority list, he would have remained in Darwin. NJS was effectively the initiator of his transfer although the chronology does not strictly bear this out. In my view it is appropriate to look at the substance of the matter rather than the form.
The NJS clauses covering pilot relocations, are essentially similar to the clauses of the Award and most Australian pilot agreements.
This has put the brakes on this particular NJS 'race to the bottom.' Well done.
I'm struck by the bull-headedness of NJS. Simply paying the relocation costs to all the DRW pilots would have preserved goodwill, and would arguably have been cheaper than mounting a full defence. As it turned out, the AFAP won what most people in any industry would have thought was a fair thing, and a proper interpretation of the EBA. Instead, they found themselves in Fair Work Hearings for four days in total. What a waste of money!
The DRW pilots are a down-to-earth bunch. If NJS had been up front, the affected pilots would have had lawn sales etc to minimise the stuff needed to be moved south. But after all this aggro to get what ought to have been paid in the first place.... well if it were me I'd be hiring a 40' shipping container, putting ALL my stuff in it, including my old socks, and filling up the remaining space with Mount Bundey stone for my new 'tropical' garden in Hobart and handing the bill to NJS!!
Still, I suppose it is in the NJS DNA -- Cobham tried it on in 2006 by not paying wage increases to dozens of Bae146 Captains. The Fair Work Ombudsman had something to say about that - and sued NJS. NJS lost the Federal case. NJS appealed. NJS lost. NJS had to pay $X000,000 in backpay, chr!st knows what their legal bill was!
2007 Prune thread NJS in court
2007 decision re NJS Underpayment of jet pilot wages
2015 decision: NJS B717 Darwin pilot relocation dispute