Enterprise-Bargaining Crisis Leader

The mandate

Bargaining across four airport-service sites stalled after local managers offered inconsistent roster and allowance changes outside the central mandate. Overtime limitations now threaten peak schedules, grievance volumes are rising and safety leaders report fatigue in uncovered shifts. The employee-relations director was dismissed after an unauthorised concession reached one workforce before negotiators could test its national consequences.

The interim must take Sydney authority within five business days and lead for nine months through bargaining resolution, implementation and one stable peak operating period. Recruitment for a permanent employee-relations executive starts after an authorised in-principle position and restored site governance, expected in month four. The successor will lead one implementation forum and a live roster disruption exercise during four weeks of overlap.

Handover requires one bargaining mandate, verified claims and costing assumptions, site issue and precedent registers, safe roster boundaries, approved communication, grievance triage, implementation ownership and representative relationships capable of direct problem solving. The next peak must complete within agreed safety and service measures. The successor inherits unresolved cases, interpretation questions, manager capability gaps and review commitments.

The interim may stop local side deals, establish employer negotiation protocols, deploy employee-relations resources, require roster-risk escalation and commit up to AUD 12 million within the approved bargaining envelope. Final agreement, industrial action response, litigation, termination, customer concessions and commitments beyond delegation require officers or committees holding those powers. Operational leaders retain safety and service accountability.

Airline commercial negotiation, airport security, enterprise payroll replacement, broad operating-model redesign and employee matters outside the named bargaining units remain outside scope. This seat owns bargaining coherence, employee-relations evidence, continuity interfaces, implementation and succession. It cannot purchase short-term quiet through a concession whose safety, equity, precedent and affordability consequences have not been examined.

Why this seat is open

An unauthorised local concession fractured the employer mandate during escalating roster disruption, leading to the director’s dismissal. Sites face different operating pressures, but inconsistent treatment weakens both trust and control. Temporary employee-relations command can restore one evidence base, reach an authorised outcome and prove implementation through a real peak before permanent leadership takes over.

What you will own

• Reconstruct bargaining claims, employer positions, local assurances, precedent, decision authority and unresolved interpretation by site.
• Establish one negotiator mandate, caucus rhythm, concession register, costing protocol and escalation route across locations.
• Connect roster, overtime, fatigue, training, absence and customer-service evidence to each proposed workforce term.
• Triage grievances and local disputes that threaten bargaining credibility without converting every case into a national precedent.
• Direct manager and employee communications through verified facts, authorised commitments and consistent implementation language.
• Exercise peak disruption, absence surge, safety escalation and partial-agreement scenarios with operations and representatives.
• Transfer bargaining records, relationship maps, implementation controls, open cases and manager routines to the successor.

Candidate qualifications

• Held executive employee-relations authority through high-stakes enterprise bargaining in aviation or another continuous operation.
• Restored negotiation control after local concessions, inconsistent manager messages or escalating workforce action.
• Connected roster and labour proposals to fatigue, safety, skill coverage, service and affordable implementation evidence.
• Worked credibly with union delegates, operational leaders and counsel while preserving respective authority boundaries.
• Implemented an agreed outcome through payroll, rostering, manager training, grievance and peak-demand cycles.
• Handed stable representative relationships and decision governance to permanent leadership after a live disruption period.

Non-negotiables

• Can start onsite in Sydney within five business days and travel weekly during the initial bargaining phase.
• Will accept exclusive executive accountability for employer mandate integrity and continuous workforce-risk escalation.
• Brings bargaining crisis resolution in safety-critical operations; routine casework or policy advice is insufficient.
• Must disclose union, employer, airport, airline, counsel and employee-representation relationships.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe a bargaining recovery where an unauthorised local concession changed the employer strategy.
2. 49 words maximum. Which roster evidence must be tested before accepting an overtime or allowance proposal?
3. 49 words maximum. State your Sydney availability and the most complex represented workforce you directly led.