The Victorian Government has mandated two extra public holidays for Victoria in 2016 and 2017, Easter Saturday and Grand Final Friday. As a result, additional entitlements to time off should be available to LAMEs working in Victoria. In March management issued notification that they would simply amend the shift averaging to pay out these days without consultation, consideration or agreement of the staff.
The ALAEA wrote to management several times requesting consultation and explaining that our preference would be in line with the provisions of the current 12-hour roster agreement where one of the extra days was paid out and the other allocated as a day in lieu. As staff are rostered on for 50% of the days in any calendar year, this would be the logical solution.
Management disregarded our requests for consultation and decided to simply pay out the days by increasing the shift penalty amount. They did not even advise us on how they calculated the amount, which now differs from that of our 12-hour agreement. We suspect that staff shortages motivated them to plough ahead and avoid any consultation that may have led to LAMEs attaining more time off work.
In doing so we believe the company has broken numerous clauses in the Enterprise Agreement in relation to consultation and the treatment of public holidays. It is now becoming all too common for them to just disregard agreements and hope that the ALAEA do not have the resources to counter their contempt. We will be seeking redress for these indiscretions with a goal of achieving an outcome in line with member expectations.
In order to do this, a very short survey will be sent asking you whether you would prefer these days to be paid out, or allocated as time off (extra DILs added).
Wayne Derndorfer
Qantas Councillor
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