The list of Aviation workers voting for Protection Industrial Action keeps growing
 

Too little for too long, whilst the overlords of the industry rape and pillage at the expense of their staff members. Good luck to all those who choose Protected Industrial Action. Hopefully with a new government in office and all of the negative press surrounding the industry things may change sooner rather than later. Time will tell.

The list of those voting for PIA:
Qantas LAMEs
Jetstar LAMEs
Network LAMEs
VARA LAMEs
DNATA ground handling
Their may be more in the pipeline, these are the ones I have seen in the media. There is only so much middle management to fill the gaps should the industrial action take place.

Rex Pilots

Could we soon add JQ pilots to the list? Any idea how the negotiations are going? They seem to be one of the only pilot groups united in their resolve…

I’m pretty sure you will be able to add all the VA groups as well in another two years……………

Now is the time to do it, Airlines are desperately short of staff and many staff have other options.

Airport Firies

The list is bigger than I anticipated.

Probably add every Aviation group in the next 12 months!!!

If safety is the issue that really bothers the TWU how about instead of short notice strikes that alienate the public (and possibly spawn more right wing voters) they work to force capacity caps on airlines and airports until they lift their game? The Poms appear to have done this.
50 or 60% on time performance is simply not acceptable. Cut back service until 90% is assured - of course the unions have to play a part in delivering this, too.
We know money is also an issue, and probably the root issue, but ain’t that the case for most of us now?

That ‘resolve’ has cost them over 12% so far.

So halve the available seats with current demand ? Drive the cost of a flight from Brisbane to Sydney to $5000 ?

The major issue is the ground handling companies can't fulfil their contracts. QGS was able to handle it, the current mobs can't. It never used to take 1 hour to get the bags from the plane to the carousel. Pre 2020 I can count on 1 finger the amount of times I saw a plane fully loaded with pax and the bags hadn't started even being loaded at departure time. Today its a daily occurance. As managemnent have said they've been using 3rd party ground handlers successfully in 45 out of 55 airports around the world or something like that, maybe the ones that had 1, maybe 2 flights at a time. Not 30 flights leaving in 1 hour.

Screw the people, the customers, who pay your way.

That’s the 19th Century Australian way!

Yes, it's shameful the way QF sent the handling business to a foreign-owned entity, and I hope they lose their court appeal, and that they, or the contractor, offer jobs to former workers already trained in the task.
But meantime while they get their sh!t together, halving capacity to force an improvement in on-time performance wouldn't drive up airfares too much if strong anti-gouging laws were put in place. It would hurt airline profits, but too bad, so sad - anything to concentrate beancounters' minds.
The whole mess that has made us one of the worst performing countries in the western world will seriously damage inbound and domestic tourism, unless government, unions and airlines work together as a matter of urgency. Anyone planning a Christmas holiday in OZ had better think again.
If a SYD-BNE on QF or VA did end up costing $5000 a pop (or even $1000) REX would love it. They would of course need in-house handling. There's a whole pool of ex-QF people just waiting for the call.

have a look at the ramp staff they are going thru them bag chucker's so fast they cannot even get asic's in time let alone train people up, everyone is on vistor's pass's and many don't even have airside driving license's, this includes pushback tug driver's. the whole system is beyond broken its not even funny anymore

I have noticed QF is now rolling out the esteemed Andrew David to front the media since Alan Joyce is so on the nose with the flying public.

Even when questioned about the illegal sacking of 2000 ramp workers, AD keeps up the company line that "we don't believe it was illegal and that is why we are taking it to the next court".

They just don't get it. Once the music stops, who will be left without a seat on the board/executive?

Yes i heard some of his dribble yesterday.
Amazing how he brushes off the luggage fiasco & comes out with crap about how the ratio of lost bags is no worse than it was pre covid & then tries to convince himself that there is no issue with call centre wait times.
They just deny,deny,deny & blame everybody else.
He just doesnt understand that long serving employees who get a decent wage for what they do will take ownership of problems & go the extra yard to keep passengers happy whereas lowly paid contractors just go 'i get paid pittance so that problem is way above my pay grade'

Exactly, screw them. QF management are following the 17th century way.

​​​​​​And when the High Court upholds the FWC and Federal Court's opinion on the matter, I expect AD will still say Qantas Management did nothing illegal and the FWC, Federal Court and High Court Commissioners and Judges have all got it wrong.


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Of course he will,the 'always right' attitude starts right at the top & goes right down through the management chain.
They have no respect for anybody & over the years all of the employee goodwill has been eroded due to the actions of the parasites running this company.

Well, first cab off the rank to vote in favour of protected industrial action is DNATA. Not even a personal visit by none other than Alan Joyce himself could deter these ramp staff from voting in favour for better pay. Read the room Alan.

Today the ballot closes for LAMEs from Qantas, Jetstar and Alliance. I would say there is a better than fair chance that all 3 of these ballots will be yes votes.

The industry needs this. AJ and his cronies are a cancer on Australian aviation, and nothing will hurt him more than a reduction in his bonuses.

Rex Saab pilots have already completed a round of PIA also. Too little too late in terms of pilot retention, though. Those who stay will have a somewhat palatable EBA.

what actions did they take, and what changes did it result in Rex agreeing to?

Tankering ban where operationally safe. It costs a bit of coin filling up on every sector on the all stops to Mt Isa.

The company was refusing to negotiate and now they've come to the table after two weeks of uplifting fuel at outports. They're offering 1 extra RDO per month, CPI within 2-4. Backpay still needs to be negotiated but it's a lot better than what the company originally offered. 20 odd pilots quit last week. Just under 10% of the seniority list.

PROTECTED Industrial Action surely, not 'protection'.

Where the TWU us concerned, anyone who's been in the industry for 20 years or more remembers that the union milked it for everything it was worth with unreasonable demands, unreasonable roster demands, snap strikes, stop-works and on one occasion in MEL many years ago, walking off the job to protect someone who the police were interviewing over having allegedly, with someone from CS, extorted passengers out of cash to waive excess baggage.

That was a rare case, but regardless of the legality of the QF action, that particular work group caused untold damage to the brand over many, many years, even going back to government ownership.

It's a little hard to have sympathy now that the boot is on the other foot. Hate good people losing their jobs but it's not like this was 15 year olds down a mine, it was bordering on a sheltered workshop at times.

No opinion of AD but what if the HC doesn't uphold the lower court's decision?? It works both ways, will the union be saying the HC got it wrong??

Hard to say. Let's wait and see what the HC says and go from there. At this stage it's 2-Zip in favour of TWU.

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The LAMEs from all 3 groups have said YES in a big way & now of course the management mouth pieces have came out saying work bans etc are unreasonable as meetings are scheduled.
We all know what management brings to these meetings,BS,BS & more BS.
100 % agree with AJ & his cronies being a cancer & they all need to be shown up for exactly what they are,a self entitled mob of bullies who think they are above every industrial law & agreement which suddenly doesnt suit them any more.

Qantas Jetstar and Network LAMEs begin their PIA campaign tomorrow with 1 minute stoppages at the beginning of shifts. Knowing Qantas and co it will get nasty.

Would be good if their unions supplied a brief PA that we could make when delayed due to the action.

‘Folks, due to the lack of action by management in helping our friends in the aircraft maintenance department we will be delayed by approx xxx minutes. As pilots we fully support our engineering friends and wish them well in their endeavours of achieving fair and equitable working conditions”

That would certainly be good however i believe there is no doubt it would be looked on as unprotected industrial action & thats probably nowhere any union or employee wants to go right now.

Well that’s a little more than wearing red ties….and remember Alan shut Qantas down over that, saying it was for safety!!!

From the abc https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-...sult/101368062

Starting with1 minute strikes to validate commencement of protected action.

"Mark" in the article is 100% spot on. Engineering has been gutted of people, parts and infrastructure. Facilities are from the middle of last century. Compared to "The Street" they're medieval.

He certainly is spot on,just on the stands issue,ask any of the guys how much time is wasted looking for 1 & when you tell a manager,all you get is how much money they have spent on equipment.
Make sure when u are driving around looking for that invisible piece of equipment that all airport speed limits are adhered to,Take 5!