Mounting concerns over short-staffing and bloated work backlogs have boiled over into snap industrial action at Australia’s aviation regulator Civil Aviation Safety Authority, with three key unions walking off the job simultaneously tomorrow over slipping standards.
As public pressure continues to mount over the extent of largesse extended to politicians and senior public servants by national carrier Qantas, Professionals Australia (PA), the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) and the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) will mount a protected half-day stoppage on Tuesday to get their point across to policymakers.
The snap strike by three unions at once is a bad omen for travelling public servants and politicians because it highlights the degree to which skills shortages and underfunding have hit Australia’s aviation sector, which has maintained a reputation for high safety standards on commercial flights preventing accidents and crashes.
The strikes are being mounted by technical specialists who conduct safety surveillance and audit activities to check that airlines and other aircraft operators don’t cut corners on aviation safety regulations.
They include aviation safety regulators, flight training examiners, flying operations inspectors, pilots, engineers and other specialists.
The key claim of the union is that a minimum of 36 extra technical staff be added along with an urgent review of technical staffing levels.
“Chronic understaffing has left CASA’s technical workforce overworked and under enormous pressure to cover a huge backlog of work that needs to be completed to keep Australia’s aviation industry safe, said Professionals Australia chief executive Jill McCabe.
McCabe said that 65% of her union’s members “indicated that working extra hours impacted the quality of inspections” as well as the effectiveness of safety regulations, workplace culture and health and safety.
“Twenty five percent of our members reported working between 6 to 10 extra hours per fortnight and a further 15% are working more than 10 additional hours each fortnight,” McCabe said.
Pilots are just as unhappy, with AFAP executive director Simon Lutton warning that fatigue caused by excessive overtime caused by understaffing is a major problem.
“While a key objective of CASA is to ensure that proper fatigue management protocols are enforced within Australia’s aviation sector, CASA’s role in providing a work environment conducive to managing the fatigue of its own pilot employees is extremely poor,’ Lutton said.
“Our members are routinely working excessive overtime to keep up with demand, and as a result, the quality of their work, their health and safety and the safety of the travelling public is being put at risk.”
Engineers say stretched workplace conditions have increased the risk of mistakes and errors.
“The work that aircraft engineers undertake for CASA is often highly complex and takes significant time. This type of work cannot be rushed, and the consequences of cutting corners can be catastrophic, ALAEA federal secretary Steve Purvinas said.
On Friday, a light plane crash near Canberra resulted in the deaths of a pilot and his three grandchildren after the aircraft was lost from radar only 16 minutes after leaving Canberra airport. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating the cause of the crash.
While the snap strikes were authorised around two weeks ago, the tragedy has emphasised the critical necessity of aviation safety standards.
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Federal aircraft inspectors move to strike over safety concerns, staff shortages
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