Tigerair Australia faces industrial action from pilots

faith and it looked fporaTravelers on Tigerair Australia could face pre-Christmas disruption after pilots voted to take protected industrial action over a pay deadlock The Australian Federation of Air Pilots said more than 90 percent of its membership had voted for the action after an unsatisfactory pay offer in September. The AFAP, which represents three-quarters of Tigerair pilots, said flight crew had not had a pay increase in more than two years and accused the company of stalling on new a new enterprise bargaining agreement. The action will take place between  December 21 and December 24  and during that time the pilots will adopt three work bans. They will refuse to fly jets with minor, non-safety related (‘deferred’) defects; refuse to start work within 90 minutes of being called in from stand-by; and conduct in-air go-slows by not exceeding certain speeds or taking route short-cuts. “After two years of bargaining, the decision to take protected industrial action was not made lightly,” AFAP industrial officer James Lauchland said. “The industrial action will not be conducted on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, as the federation’s members want to ensure passengers can travel to be with their families and friends” Tigerair is owned by Virgin Australia and operates almost 500 weekly flights to capital cities and holiday destinations. Although the industrial action does not target Christmas Day and Boxing Day, the lead up to Christmas and the days following the break are the busier travel days. A Tigerair spokeswoman said the airline continued to negotiate in good faith and it looked forward  to "reaching a mutually beneficial outcome as soon as possible". Air New Zealand averted a Christmas strike that could have affected the travel plans of more than 100,000 passengers after reaching an agreement this week with unions representing its aircraft maintenance and logistics workers. SEE Relief for 120,000 as Air New Zealand Xmas strike averted.