FWC backs FCTG EBA

FLIGHT Centre Travel Group (FCTG) said employees will be “better off overall” under the company’s enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA), which was approved by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) last month.

The approval came, despite concerns flagged by the Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union (ASU) over staff gradings, with FCTG matching entry-level travel consultants, with less than 12-months’ experience to the Retail Employee Level 1 grade of the General Retail Industry Award, until they have completed a year with the group, or obtained Certificate III and IV qualifications.

The ASU had sought for travel consultants’ pay to be matched to the Retail Employee Level 4 grade, however, the FWC backed the grading structure as per the EBA, which was backed by more than 85% of staff who voted on the deal in Oct 2018.

An FCTG spokesperson welcomed the FWC decision to approve the deal, which will be in force until 12 Oct 2022.

“Given that our people have been operating under this new system for 13 months, nothing has changed recently,” he said.

“For a company to get an EBA approved, the agreement needs to pass what’s called a Better Off Overall Test (BOOT).

“We are very comfortable that our people are better off overall and some of the benefits were listed in our annual report.

“Benefits are both financial (we paid an additional $14m in wages between Oct and Jun 30 last year) and related to work conditions.”

Under the EBA employees will be entitled to donate personal/ carers leave to “The Giving Bank” to support colleagues.

Speaking at FCTG’s annual general meeting yesterday (TD yesterday), Managing Director Graham Turner noted the timing of the introduction of the EBA had an impact on the company’s underlying financial results, since its adoption in Oct last year.

“This led to a $4m first quarter cost increase,” he told investors. The ASU declined to comment. MEANWHILE FCTG Chairman Gary Smith said the deployment of new technology had temporarily impacted sales staff numbers, in-store productivity, margins and TTV growth.