Qantas has set a four month deadline to settle as a deal with its long-haul pilots for a new four-year wage agreement that will include pay and conditions for those flying 787-9s. Qantas is seeking an 18-month wage freeze and a proposed productivity increases from pilots who would fly the new aircraft. The latter will involve the restructuring of the way pay is calculated with 787 pilots clocking up more so-called stick hours for the same amount of money as they would gain if they were flying fewer hours on other Qantas aircraft.
Critics have called the time-frame “highly ambitious” given that negotiations began only a month ago.