Qantas Network Aviation Pilots Call 24-Hour Strike

Most new airline CEOs spend the first few weeks jetting around the operation, getting to know the people and the customers and building up their own profile. New Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson has spent her first days being grilled by a government inquiry, facing hostile media, and now she is faced with a strike by a section of Qantas pilots.

Who is Network Aviation?

Today, the Australian Federation of Air Pilots notified Qantas Group management that its members at Network Aviation will take protected industrial action next week. The members will stop all work effective from 00:01 until 23:59 on Wednesday, October 4, one of 25 potential actions already approved by Australia’s Fair Work Commission. Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) Senior Industrial Officer Chris Aikens said:

“The AFAP remains committed to reaching an agreement for our members in Western Australia who fly for Qantas subsidiary Network Aviation and is disappointed that we have had to take this action.”

Network Aviation operates more than 300 flights weekly and specializes in Mining Charters, Corporate Charters and Emergency Freight, with regular services from Perth Airport to destinations throughout Western Australia. Network Aviation also operates regular airline passenger services on aircraft with the QantasLink tail, as well as the charter work under the Network Aviation brand, with a fleet of around 30 aircraft.

The AFAP has been attempting to negotiate new enterprise agreements with three Qantas Group airline operators, Network Aviation, Eastern Australia Airlines and Sunstate Airlines. Its Eastern and Sunstate members are employed by QantasLink, while those at Network are employed by that wholly-owned Qantas subsidiary. Each of the three airlines has its own pilot agreement, and the heart of this dispute is that AFAP claims, “Network pilots are paid significantly lower than pilots at comparable airlines.”

More than an idle threat

The AFAP represents more than 85%of the commercial pilots employed by Network Aviation, Eastern and Sunstate and earlier this month balloted its members about taking Protected Industrial Action. More than 99.5% of members voted to approve taking the PIA, which has led to where we are today, looking at a 24-hour stoppage next Wednesday. In its letter to the company, the AFAP said:

“In accordance with s 414 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), notice is given to you by the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) as the Bargaining Representative for members of the AFAP who will be covered by the proposed Network Aviation Pilots Enterprise Agreement 2023 (the Members), that the Members intend to engage in the following Employee Claim Action:

25. An unlimited number of single or consecutive 24-hour stoppages of all work.”

Here in Australia, the headlines are already running hot that Qantas pilots are going on strike next week, so perhaps some context might help. A group of pilots employed by Network Aviation are stopping work for 24 hours, impacting an unspecified number of QantasLink and Network Aviation flights in Western Australia.

However, the AFAP has more than 5,700 members and is Australia’s largest professional association and industrial organization for commercial pilots flying internationally and domestically. In blunt terms, it has a serious amount of industrial muscle behind it that may or may not get behind this issue at Qantas subsidiary Network Aviation, although how that works legally is another matter.

Qantas is fighting fires on so many fronts that this strike could potentially blow up into something much bigger at a time when the airline can’t sink much lower in terms of its credibility and reputation. It needs to move quickly and work with Network Aviation to sort this out before it gets out of control.