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Qantas continues to be dragged into pay negotiations, with the latest hint at a new skirmish coming in the form of the FAAA’s submission to the 2025 annual wage review conducted by the Fair Work Commission (FWC).
The Flight Attendants’ Association of Australia (FAAA) made a submission to the Fair Work Commission in the annual wage review, seeking a 5 per cent wage increase for cabin crew workers – receiving a counter argument from Qantas.
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The review – which welcomes submissions from varying workplace stakeholders – has been hotly contested with unions and employer groups verbally sparring over their proposed changes to Australia’s minimum wage.
In their first submission on 3 April, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) tabled a submission calling for a 4.5 per cent wage boost to the minimum wage – up from the 3.75 per cent increase that was introduced last year.
In their reply submission tabled on 2 May, the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) labelled the ACTUs proposal as “reckless” with chief executive of Ai Group Innes Willox instead proposing a 2.6 per cent increase.
“Our economy is in a fragile position, coming out of the weakest year of growth in three decades,” said Willox.
“Private sector output, employment, investment and financial performance have deteriorated, while the economy has become reliant on government spending to prop up performance. Productivity has unfortunately continued to slide and remains well below long-term trend.”
“The Expert Panel should take a cautious and considered approach to adopt a rise of not more than 2.6 per cent, reflecting the challenging economic situation facing Australia and the world.”
Among the squabbles between unions and employer groups alike over the minimum wage changes, the FAAA submitted a key request during the annual wage review proceedings, calling for a five per cent wage increase for cabin crew under the Aircraft Cabin Crew Award 2020 (ACC Award) – in addition to the standard annual wage adjustment.
Qantas filed a reply submission a month later, claiming that the annual wage review was not the correct forum for award-specific increases, arguing that the FAAAs submission should be dealt with in a separate application.
According to Qantas’s own submission, they currently employ 6,800 cabin crew in Australia – making them the largest cabin crew employer in the country.
The union undertook a similar attempt in the previous review seeking a two per cent increase, but it was denied by the commission who opted for a research project into the justifications for the wage increase.
The FAAA plans on making a separate application for a Work Value Case focusing on a number of ACC Award matters. Qantas argued that due to this impending case, “there is no basis (or capacity)” for the commission to make a decision on the ACC as part of the wide annual wage review.
Recently, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) secured pay rises for Qantas Freight workers under “same job, same pay” legislation, scoring annual pay increases of around $5,000, with some workers receiving up to $8,000. Before that, over 750 Qantas labour-hire cabin crew members received pay rises of up to $20,000 under the legislation.
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says:Flight attendants spend more time with your customers than any other staff. A good flight attendant can make your flight enjoyable and leaving you with a good impression of the carrier. An unhappy group of flight attendants can make you not consider your company again and spread the bad word.
Very short sighted view.
allister polkinghorne
says:Flight attendants have an essential key safety role. However, it is reasonable quick to train as a flight attendant and many come and go from the industry as their personal circumstances change. Whenever someone gets paid more there are the on costs like workers comp, payroll tax etc. so a 5% increase becomes a 7% increase in salary costs. This, in turn, gets tacked on the seat cost. If these people want more money, change careers. After all, you can train to be a pilot and starting out as a first officer on a commuter airline or a charter pilot in remote Australia, have spent north of 120k on obtaining your commercial pilot licence, you can expect a wage in the order of 65k per year. But the good news is, it increases with promotion.
Think about this for a moment; A Saab 340 captain (minimum 3-6 years experience in the industry) gets paid about 120k. Their First officer gets about the same as the flight attendant. Is an increase in the pay for Flight Attendants warranted?