Victory at Alpha

• General News
• 15th May 2014

Given the precarious state of our airline industry the TWU believes our bargaining committee has done very well in the recent round of negotiations with Alpha Flight Services.

We met with the firm’s CEO Conrad Smith in late February to discuss a wages and conditions agreement for the next three years.

The company had previously insisted they wouldn't be giving much away. In fact they were talking about taking away important conditions such as Income Protection.

We quickly declared that the sickness and accident cover was not negotiable. Nor were other conditions tabled by Alpha as possible trade-offs.

In fact we gave away very little and gained quite a lot including.

• A three-year agreement with 3% annual pay rises.
• The first 3% increase BACK PAID to October 2013.
• Income Protection to REMAIN to cover you for sickness and accidents 24/7.
• Proper Disputes Clause for TWU representations and arbitration
• NEW - Individual Flexibility clause – for individual days Annual Leave
• NEW HR Drivers rate $1 per hour higher than MR current Driver rate.
• NEW Storeman and Flight Coordinator Classification
• NEW - 12 days per year (up from 10days) Personal Leave for Kitchen and Wash up employees
• NEW - Attendance Bonus PAYMENTS for employees that have less than 7 days Personal Leave (other than Annual and LSL) per year
• NEW - Labour Hire clause for outside companies to pay proper site rate wages to them with the TWU and ALPHA support.

It really is a great deal and delegates in all states have endorsed the agreement. As the Wheel went to press members were about to VOTE on it.

Many thanks to our hard working delegates Debbie Dunbar and Jay Morgan.