CASA, the government and duty times
 

I'm presenstly in Perth on holidays and have noticed two news stories relating to Dominoes pizza employess (one on the ABC 7pm news the other in a newspaper) being docked 5 minutes worth of pay for every minute they are late or not wearing the correct uniform. This is understandably a little harsh for people earning the minimum wage and as a result various unions and government employment agencies have taken the issue up with the employer to rectify the problem.

Now my point is that as an instructor I am required to be at work 5 days a week from 8am to 5pm and on top of this am expected to conduct duties for the company outside these hours (as a result consistently breaking duty times). On top of this I am only paid for flights which I conduct, I am considered a 'contractor', even though I must be in attendance full time, even when I am not getting paid (is this legal?) and often due weather or unservicable aircraft I will not earn a single cent for an entire day, or even sometimes days at a time (it actually costs me money to go work - fuel is getting dam expensive these days). Now this situation I am fully aware is not unusual in GA however there appears to be no organisation or government agency willing or able to assist us hardly done by pilots who can't rock the boat for fear of being ostracised from the industry. What I can't understand is why in any other industry the government would have no hesitation in coming to the aid of hardly done by workers but in aviation CASA and the government simply turn a blind eye.

Use the rules to your advantage
 

A question or two:

1/. Are you a member of the AFAP?

2/. Are you keeping a true record of your attendance at work?

3/. Are you aware of the provisions in the GA Pilots award that require you to be paid for x hours flying time every time you clock on, regardless of whether you fly or not? A minimum of 2 hours pay for a tour of less than 4 hours, minimum 4 hours pay for over 4 hours.

4/. Are you really a contractor? The boss may say so to keep you in your box, but:
a) do you supply your own tools?
b) do you insure yourself?
c) do you have your own ABN?
d) Does he pay you the agreed rate + 10% GST?
e) Do you supply your own systems of work or do you do things as directed by him?
f) Do you pay 9% of your income into a super fund?
These are just some of the tests applied by the courts in determining if you are a bona fide contractor and I would bet that you don't walk like a duck, quack like a duck or look like a duck, and therefore are not a contractor. :E

If you ain't a contrator you are an employee and if you are an employee you must be paid by the award.

A quick peek tells me that, assuming you are a Grade 3 doing some night flying, you should be paid a rate of $48.63 per hour. This is 1/800 of the salary plus a 25% casual loading, paid because you don't get paid leave like everyone else.

If you are there all day (ie: your tour is 4+ hours) you are entitled to a minimum of four hours pay, ie: $194.53 gross. Your superannuation (that is the must-be-paid-by-law superannuation) is an additional 9%, paid into the super fund of your choice.

If your employer is not paying you super, you should call the ATO immediately.

If you are keeping good records of the real hours worked you have a good starting point. If you are a member of the AFAP you have a fighting chance. If you aren't a member of the union := they can't help you.

First action is to front your employer and tell him you'd like to re-negotiate your Terms and Conditions. If he says "non-negotiable", consider mounting an argument along the lines above or simply MOVE ON.

Good luck. :ok:

If I was you I would spend every spare moment researching and speaking with flying schools that are known to look after their employees. I have seen quite a few advertisements for instructors lately. If dodgy schools like this don’t start treating their employees with respect, they will only ever be a short term stepping stone. If nothing else the students deserve better.

I think the sooner we stop accepting sub-standard conditions as ‘normal for GA’ the better off we will all be. Speak with your feet. Some of us are actually trying to make a living from GA!:eek:

Welcome to GA!
What really sucks is that to earn a crust in this industry you have to work the olong hours, then CASA in their wisdom "claim" that you are breaking duty times.
When you explain you are just trying to make a living and that's the type of hours required, well they just don't care:mad:
However they will not stand up for pilots rights and penalise "free" work offered by green pilots or this paying for hours offered by some bankrunning type companies.

How is this industry supposed to get ahead when this regulatory authority can't even get the basics right!:(

Prostitutes
 

I have been told that some charter companies also require pilots to come to work five days a week, and only pay them for flying hours. This is illegal, and allows them to reduce charter costs so they have an unfair advantage over companies that pay properly. They are killing th industry.

ONLY PILOTS CAN FIX THIS. IF THEY KEEP DOING IT, THEN THEY MUST LIVE WITH THE RESULTS

DALR is right,

I can see where he is getting at!

Pizza delivery guys getting treated better then pilots...... If pilots stopped working for free and stood up to themselves.... This wouldn’t be happening!

I totally agree with Bushy. It is wrecking the industry. An operator who doesn’t pay his pilots properly is either doing it to undercut the decent operators for the work, or they cant afford to survive any other way (in which case they shouldn’t be in business in the first place and should leave the work for the operators who can pay their pilots).
The best thing that we can do is not even consider these operators as an option when looking for work. If you never apply for the job then you will never be put in a position where you will have to decide whether to take it or not. They only do it because they can, and they only can as long as people are willing to do it.

What it really requires is for an AFAP member to complain that he/she is being underpaid for the duty hours required from the employer but only being paid for hours flown.

The AFAP should then mount a public court case against one such employer, as a test case, on behalf of that employee pilot being underpaid, and seeking back wages for ALL duty time required by the employer.
The court case to get promoted to the media to cover.

It takes but one or two examples of an adverse judgement against employers like this to show others that they cannot continue with this type of employment and that if they do so there is already a precedent to show that they will lose such a case.

Yes, I agree, a few businesses may fold as a result. Perhaps they should never have gone into business in the first place, having based their business plan on deliberately underpaying their employees.

A secondary effect would be to reveal to the world that pilots are not making the huge money that the public at large seems to think that pilots of all ranks are making.

Mackers does not pay its employees on the basis of the number of burgers that each employee actually sells on any one day.
Should pilots be treated an differently, particularly in view of the hype that management of the industry puts out stating that 'You too can be a well paid airline pilot in only 18 months (or whatever) if you train with us'.

runway16,

I think the problem with your suggestion might be peoples

DON'T DO IT IN THE FIRST PLACE would be my suggestion. I know that it can be tough to get a break in the industry.... then get multi time.... etc etc, but prostituting yourself will only make it worse for EVERYBODY in the long run.