Our Union met with Qantas Management on November 8th to discuss several issues relating to ongoing Rostering problems, employee fatigue concerns and the Domestic / International cross training issues that members have raised in recent weeks not only with the ASU Delegates but with local Management also.
Management agreed that the rostering was an ongoing problem and committed to working jointly with our Union and our ASU delegates towards improving the situation. One of the ideas proposed by our Union was to have the Workforce Planning Group provide to our Delegates a copy of any Rostering arrangements prior to it being publicised to employees so that we can identify & correct any problems prior to them actually occurring. There was also a suggestion, which was supported by management, to put in place a Rostering Committee which would meet regularly and look into proposed rosters from Workforce Planning and where required, make necessary changes to the rosters in order to ensure:
- Employees had proper rest breaks between shifts,
- The shift rotations between nights, morning and afternoons were structured in order to reduce / minimise fatigue concerns,
- That suitable numbers of employees were allocated to the proposed shifts,
- Employees with the completed training and necessary skills were slotted into the correct roles.
Once the above was completed, then the Rosters would then be circulated and publicised for all our members to see and then raise any further issues with our ASU Delegates if required.
In addition to the above, there was a discussion in relation to a new & revised Qantas Freight Group Fatigue Management Plan which is supposed to be active and in place for all employees in the Freight Group. A copy of this document is attached here for your reading and we ask that you please let us know if there are any aspects of the company’s own Fatigue Management Plan that you believe is not being adhered to by Management.
Over the next week, we will provide to all our ASU members within International Freight and Domestic Freight, various clauses contained in both the ASU Qantas Airways limited Agreement 11 (applicable to International Freight Staff) and the ASU Australian Air Express Pty Ltd Agreement 2015 (applicable to Domestic Freight Staff) which reminds you all of your rights in relation to:
- Consultation about changes to rosters or hours of work.
- Changing ordinary hours and shift rosters.
- Payment for working overtime – Shiftworkers.
- Minimum rest periods required after overtime and between shifts.
- Minimum notice periods required for change of roster made by the company.
Maximum number of shifts per day and Week.