Your Australian Services Union negotiating team met with representatives of Aerocare to continue enterprise bargaining on Friday 31st March 2017. The ASU, along with the TWU, responded to the draft Enterprise Agreement put out by Aerocare on Wednesday 29 March 2017. The ASU detailed, clause by clause, the many improvements the draft needed, it made for a long meeting.
Aerocare’s proposed Enterprise Agreement is the worst the ASU has seen in ground handling. The proposed Enterprise Agreement falls far short of industry standards.
As we know Aerocare has started to attract the attention of those outside the industry. The report on ABC’s 7.30 brought to the attention of the wider community the cost, both in working conditions and wages, you have to make when working for Aerocare under the current Enterprise Agreement.
Aerocare’s proposals for the next Agreement is more of the same and in many respects makes it worse.
Why is Aerocare’s proposed Agreement so bad?
You all know that aviation is a unique industry; it is not just Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. Work is required to be done seven days a week virtually around the clock. This Aerocare proposal is bad because there is:
- No proper payment for work on Saturdays (time and a half), Sundays and Public Holidays (double time), Christmas and Good Friday (double time and a half);
- No proper payment paid for working after 6pm and before 7am;
- No overtime payments for working more than eight hours on a single day, or more than 38 hours in a week;
- ONLY A guaranteed minimum 30 hours a week pay or 120 hours pay over the four week roster cycle for permanent employees (not 38 hours as is normally the case)
- No seven days’ notice for changes to rosters;
- Nominated hours, supplementary hours and altered hours which disadvantage employees continued;
- No proper payment when on company directed travel and when required to attend training meetings.
It is not good enough
The proposed Aerocare Agreement has none of the basic conditions that all employees in the industry are entitled to. Just because you work for Aerocare you should not be treated any differently.
Aeorcare’s proposed agreement only covers permanent employees and not casual employees. Aerocare plans to keep casuals on the current expired agreement which has rates of pay that have not been increased since February 2013. That means casuals go backwards.
We doubt this proposal is legal and we have told Aerocare this. They don’t care.
We think casuals would be better off on the Award than this inferior agreement.
What now?
Aerocare have said they will respond to the ASU’s document by Wednesday 5 April 2017. The ASU wants to continue bargaining for improvements to your next enterprise agreement and we have told Aerocare management that we want further meetings. Aerocare is not responding to this request.
To ensure that Aerocare bargain in good faith we have involved the Fair Work Commission, asking the Commission to direct Aerocare to provide us with information on your current actual wage rates, on rostering and on location and classification of Aerocare employees. Aerocare had refused to provide this information and we want to know what it is that Aerocare is trying to hide.
We will keep you up to date with this action in the Fair Work Commission.
Aerocare may just decide to put this bad agreement out for vote. We have to be ready if they do this and we will advise you of what to do if that happens.
More information
For more information, please get in touch with the relevant contact (download the full bulletin below for details).
Aerocare Bulletin, 3 April 2017