Qantas long-haul cabin crews who volunteered to repatriate Australians from Wuhan in 2020 have railed against the airline over potential wage cuts as their union fights with the carrier in the Fair Work Commission.
Three quarters of international cabin crew staff say they would have to find a new job to pay the bills if the airline succeeds in terminating their enterprise agreement, according to a union survey of 1200 affected workers.
The Flight Attendants’ Association of Australia (FAAA) and the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) will on Thursday release the results of their survey in the hopes of bolstering their case.
The poll coincides with the two-year anniversary of Australia’s first repatriation flights to Wuhan, which brought 678 people home from the initial Covid-19 epicentre.
A Qantas crew member who volunteered on one of the flights, who asked not to be named because of the airline’s strict media policy, said the move to scrap their enterprise agreement was discouraging and incredibly stressful.
“To have been praised for helping during the pandemic to now be basically kicked in the guts and told, ‘Well, you're not really worth it that much’. It really disheartens us,” the worker told NCA NewsWire.
“We pride ourselves for working for Qantas but it doesn’t feel like it doesn’t feel like the spirit of Australia anymore. It feels like the spirit of greed.”
Qantas has taken its fight with FAAA to the Fair Work Commission as it attempts to terminate cabin crews’ enterprise agreement in what it says is a “last resort” to change “restrictive and outdated” rostering processes.
The airline went to the industrial umpire in January after 97 per cent of affected staff voted against an alternative agreement which would have meant some crew could work across different aircraft types on a more “flexible” roster.
“We’re seeking termination because we can’t effectively run our business without the rostering changes we desperately need to properly restart our international network in a post-Covid world,” Qantas International chief executive officer Andrew David said.
“We’re open to puttixjmtzywng the same deal that was rejected back on the table, but that would require a change of heart from a union that has continually misrepresented the facts.”
Mr David said the “amazing service” of Qantas crews didn’t change the fact that the pandemic had transformed the aviation industry and the way airlines needed to operate.
But FAAA said it was not opposed to staff working across multiple planes and that it rejected the agreement because it included a temporary wage freeze and sub-inflation wage increases that amounted to a pay cut.
The union have said the proposed conditions meant staff would have to be on standby more often, with 81 per cent of the affected workers concerned the roster changes would impair their ability to respond to emergencies on long-haul flights.
“Qantas states safety as the number one priority however they have no qualms in producing rosters that would cause extreme fatigue and hugely compromise safety of customers and crew,” another cabin crew worker said.
The Fair Work Commission is due to hold hearings into the dispute in late April. If it supports Qantas in terminating the agreement, international cabin crew would have their pay and conditions reverted to the basic award.
The union says this would see hourly rates slashed by an average of 41 per cent or as much as 65 per cent for some workers, with rest breaks between some of the longest flight routes in the world significantly reduced.
The fresh dispute comes after the Federal Court last year found Qantas had acted illegally when it sacked 2000 ground crew workers and that it had been partially motivated by the fact that most of the axed staff were union members.
