AIRPORT FUEL SERVICES SNUBS WORKPLACE UMPIRE
Airport Fuel Services (AFS) has cemented its intransigent position in
EBA negotiations by refusing to refer the dispute to Fair Work Australia
for consent arbitration, ensuring a refuellers’ stoppage goes ahead.
Transport Workers’ Union negotiators met with AFS management Monday morning to broker a deal and avert a protected-action stoppage scheduled for Wednesday. During the negotiations, TWU asked AFS to agree to consent arbitration by Fair Work Australia, which the company refused.
“Not content to snub its own employees by protracting and stymieing the bargaining, AFS has now taken its stance to a new low by snubbing the independent workplace umpire,” TWU State Secretary Wayne Forno said.
“The effrontery of AFS knows no bounds.
“I want every passenger travelling to and from Sydney on Wednesday to know that it was AFS that killed the prospect of a settlement — and the company killed it because it has miscalculated the public mood when it comes to dignity and fairness at work.”
Last week AFS spokeswoman Felicity Wilson said AFS’s position was determined by the need to remain “competitive” in the market.
“That’s false,” Mr Forno said. “This is a company with 90 per cent market share, and its business has grown 70 per cent in the last five years.
“The truth is that by proposing minimum pay cuts of 38 per cent for casuals and new staff, AFS is hellbent on reefing more cash into its already-bulging reserves, and using natural attrition of permanent staff to realise its dream of building a cut-price workforce.
“I eagerly await AFS’s announcement that its managers, and the management of its owners — Qantas, BP, Caltex, and Mobil — have agreed to take a pay cut of 38 per cent.
“Until that happens, we know the public will draw the right inference as to why employees have been forced down this path.”
• Last week, after more than six months’ negotiating, the TWU filed a notice of industrial action with AFS after the company: (i) rejected the TWU proposal for a reduced pay increase in return for a site rate covering casual and permanent staff; and (ii) threatened employees with a week-long lock-out if they took protected action.
MEDIA CONTACT: Michael Wong 9912 0708 / 0404 567 054
“Not content to snub its own employees by protracting and stymieing the bargaining, AFS has now taken its stance to a new low by snubbing the independent workplace umpire,” TWU State Secretary Wayne Forno said.
“The effrontery of AFS knows no bounds.
“I want every passenger travelling to and from Sydney on Wednesday to know that it was AFS that killed the prospect of a settlement — and the company killed it because it has miscalculated the public mood when it comes to dignity and fairness at work.”
Last week AFS spokeswoman Felicity Wilson said AFS’s position was determined by the need to remain “competitive” in the market.
“That’s false,” Mr Forno said. “This is a company with 90 per cent market share, and its business has grown 70 per cent in the last five years.
“The truth is that by proposing minimum pay cuts of 38 per cent for casuals and new staff, AFS is hellbent on reefing more cash into its already-bulging reserves, and using natural attrition of permanent staff to realise its dream of building a cut-price workforce.
“I eagerly await AFS’s announcement that its managers, and the management of its owners — Qantas, BP, Caltex, and Mobil — have agreed to take a pay cut of 38 per cent.
“Until that happens, we know the public will draw the right inference as to why employees have been forced down this path.”
• Last week, after more than six months’ negotiating, the TWU filed a notice of industrial action with AFS after the company: (i) rejected the TWU proposal for a reduced pay increase in return for a site rate covering casual and permanent staff; and (ii) threatened employees with a week-long lock-out if they took protected action.
MEDIA CONTACT: Michael Wong 9912 0708 / 0404 567 054