Tigerair pilots to strike ahead of long-weekend

Coolangatta, Australia - July 8, 2017: Tigerair Australia is an Australian low-cost airline primarily operating Airbus A320-200 aircraft.
By Alexandra Coulton


Members of the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP), about 75 per cent of Tigerair pilots, will strike between 5am-9am on Friday morning to dispute a current pay agreement.

“Tigerair pilots fly the same aircraft as their counterparts at Jetstar, Virgin and Qantas but this is not reflected in their employment conditions,” Senior Industrial Officer James Lauchland said in an official statement.

“The current agreement is well below industry standards, both in terms of pay and conditions. Tigerair pilots are simply looking for a fair deal.

“Tigerair insists on finding savings in return for our claims for industry standard pay and conditions.”

“Industrial action in the form of other low-level bans conceived to minimise disruption to passengers was originally planned but this has been legally challenged by Tigerair. This has left us with little choice but to exercise the unfortunate option of a stoppage.”

A spokesperson from Tigerair told Travel Weekly the flight operating schedule for Friday has been “re-designed to minimise the impact on customers travelling during the proposed industrial action period.”

“All customers have been re-accommodated onto a Virgin Australia or Tigerair service within two to four hours, and have been directly notified earlier this week.”

Negotiations over a new enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) have been running for more than two years, with pilots not receiving any increase in pay during that period.

“Tigerair continues to negotiate in good faith with the AFAP/VIPA and we look forward to reaching a mutually beneficial outcome as soon as possible,” the Tigerair spokesperson said.

 

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