As predicted, Aerocare management have decided to put their substandard agreement out to vote without any further negotiation or discussion. We have had 3 meetings with the company – these discussions have hardly been protracted!
We recommend voting “NO” to this agreement when voting starts on 15th April 2017.
This agreement has a lot wrong with it and without a doubt you deserve a better deal.
What’s wrong with the deal?
One of the major problems with this deal is that we believe it will not pass the Fair Work Commission Better Off Overall Test (known as the “BOOT”).
For an agreement to pass the BOOT you must be better off overall against the relevant Award which is the Airline Operations Ground Staff Award. We believe you are worse off under this agreement.
This is a poor deal because:
- It excludes casuals (who are supposedly covered by the old agreement). We believe around 50% of staff are casuals but the company won’t say!;
- There is only one 5% base rate rise for a 4 year agreement (this 5% is really just a catch up for rates not being increased in the last 4 years);
- Public Holiday and weekend work is not rewarded properly with penalty rates;
- Casuals can only be covered by the EBA if they take a pay cut;
- Nominated hours continue – effectively meaning you do not get overtime for non-rostered hours (this is available in the Award);
- This agreement at best only guarantees 60 hours work over a 4 week period (unfortunately the company has many ways to get out of this promise);
- Pay rises are not payable until after the agreement is approved – there is no back pay to 19 February 2017 when the pay rise was due – agreements are taking up to 8 – 10 weeks to be approved.
There is much much more wrong with this agreement and we urge you to vote “NO”.
What happens if a “NO” vote is successful?
If a “NO” vote is successful the company will be forced back to the table to negotiate a better deal. They will get a clear message that staff want wages and conditions like everyone else in the ground handling industry.
Aerocare does ground handling for the largest airlines in Australia. Those airlines pay their own staff MORE money with better conditions than you are being offered in this agreement.
Why should your work be valued any less than the work of direct employees of Jetstar, Qantas or Virgin?
Aerocare is owned by a private equity firm whose investors are some of Australia’s largest Superannuation companies. These funds can afford to pay you market rates for your work – you have to tell them that your work is as good as the work of airline employees and you deserve these rates.
Now is the time to stand up and tell Aerocare management and the company’s owners that a substandard deal with poor pay rises, a lack of penalty rates and a low level of guaranteed hours which does not cover the whole workforce is just not good enough.
What’s next?
Voting starts on Saturday 15th April 2017 (Easter Saturday) and ends at 17:00 on Tuesday 18th April 2017.
We are writing to Aerocare to ensure that the voting process is anonymous and confidential – you deserve no less.
More information
If you have questions or queries make sure you contact your local ASU representative.(download the full bulletin below for details)
AeroCare Bulletin - 10 April 2017