Virgin pilots endorse new pay deal………..
A report by Steve Creedy in The Australian says that Virgin Blue has avoided protracted industrial unrest during a crucial growth phase after its pilots narrowly endorsed a revised pay agreement yesterday.
The Australian Federation of Air Pilots said 95% of its 570 Virgin members voted on the 4 1/2-year proposal, 53.6% in favour.
The agreement trades off pay rises for new work rules and covers the introduction later this year of Virgin’s new Embraer regional jets as well as the launch next year of proposed long-haul international flights to the US using Boeing 777 aircraft.
Union officials had expected the vote to be close after pilots rejected the airline’s first offer and because of the changes involved.
“It just shows that there is still a lot of work to be done by the company to engage their pilot workforce,” AFAP executive director Terry O’Connell said.
Mr O’Connell said the revised offer included an $8000 increase in base pay as well as a 3% increase from July 1 that would take annual pay from $156,000 to $169,000.
Pay rises in the last two years of the agreement would be between 3% and 5%, depending on the consumer price index.
Other changes included an additional 21 days off a year, a deed of arrangement on long-haul flying that guaranteed four in seven places for captains and set the stage for discussions about first officers.
Virgin Blue spokeswoman Heather Jeffery said the agreement would provide stability during the airline’s expansion. However, she agreed that the close nature of the vote meant the airline still had work to do with its pilots.
“It’s a long agreement, it’s a significant amount of change with new work rules,” she said.
“It was a long process but it shouldn’t have been hurried and it couldn’t be hurried. It was very carefully considered.”
Qantas remains at loggerheads with its pilots after a ballot on a new five-year pay deal was rejected on Friday by 81% of those voting.
The offer was the third put by the airline in the past 18 months.
The Australian and International Pilots Association has called on the company to revise its offer, which it said did cover inflation and did not include back pay.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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