Skydiving instructors are striking today, claim that Experience Co, who has bought up multiple skydiving operations up and down the east coast of Australia, are trying to ‘turn them into gig workers’ by ‘cutting’ their base wages and ‘offering a very low per-jump piece-rate’.
Strikes are taking place at Byron Bay’s Tyagarah Airfield this morning, joined by seven other sites across Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria.
First-ever enterprise agreement
The unprecedented action follows nearly ten months of stalled negotiations for a first-ever enterprise agreement, talks which workers say have revealed a company willing to trade away the industry’s reputation for profit.
‘Despite delivering its strongest financial results [three million in profit in the last financial year] since FY19, Experience Co has repeatedly pushed wage proposals that would send employees backwards,’ said skydivers in a press release.
‘Despite the company posting more than $3 million in profit in 2024, our members have not received a pay rise in more than 20 years. They carried the company, to turn from a small operation to a ASX quoted corporation, the reward from management for that has been a worsening of their advantages and the last blow: a pay cut!’ said Darren Halloran, from the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU).
‘Some offers have included cuts of between -$20,000 and -$100,000 a year, while the latest proposal would slash the minimum annual wage for skydiving instructors from $57,000 to just $49,000, with earnings dependent on a very low “per jump” piece-rate.’
The AWU says these cuts are not only disrespectful to workers and that they undermine the safety of every customer who straps into a tandem harness.
‘For the first time in history, skydivers are getting together and say enough!’ Byron skydiver Benoit Foulon told The Echo.
Mr Foulon has been skydiving for 20 years, has been an instructor for 15 years, and has done 12,000 jumps. He has jumped in many parts of the world but most of them have been in Byron Bay where he decided to settle down ten years ago.
‘Two years ago Experience Co said they want to put skydivers into a deficit during the winter, when there’s not as much work, and that skydivers would have to pay that deficit off in the summer, when the times are good. We calculated that workers would probably lose out by about $30,000 per year as a result,’ explained Jonathan Cook, who is the AWU National Organiser.
Working together for better worker outcomes
The skydivers got together and joined the AWU and sought an enterprise agreement.
‘These workers came to us. It’s very unusual for workers to come to a union and say: “We’re organised we’re ready to go, we want to get your help to negotiate”,’ a AWU representative told The Echo.
‘The company said no. So we did a majority support determination, which the company fought in the Fair Work Commission. That was resolved on the 21 December last year and since February this year, we’ve been negotiating the first-ever enterprise agreement over the last ten months. However, we’re still quite far apart,’ Mr Cook told The Echo.
‘Experience Co has around 1,000 employees nationally with 137 skydivers across some of Australia’s most iconic tourism destinations. Many of these instructors have completed thousands of jumps and undergone extensive safety training, yet, despite the industry’s growth, most have seen little to no base wage increases in decades.
‘Tandem skydiving instructors literally take people’s lives in their hands every time they go to work,’ he said.
‘AWU members voted 100 per cent in favour of protected industrial action, sending an unmistakable message: they will not accept a deal that cuts wages and jeopardises safety.
‘Our members love what they do, but passion doesn’t pay rent,’ Mr Cook said.
‘This company is thriving, yet it wants its workforce to take massive pay cuts. The industry is going up, but wages and careers are going down – and that’s dangerous.
‘The only agreement our members will endorse is one that protects wages, safety, and the future of skydiving as a profession.’
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