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Qantas has reached a deal with short-haul cabin crew to support three Same job, Same pay applications before the Fair Work Commission.
The Flying Kangaroo has also come to an agreement with the Flight Attendants’ Association of Australia (FAAA) for new conditions and pay increases on the new Project Sunrise A350-1000s. Around 800 short-haul cabin crew will see pay rises, as well as 2,500 international crew.
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“We are hopeful that the signing of this new agreement signals a return to a proper working relationship between the face of the international airline, its cabin crew, and the new CEO’s management team,” said the FAAA’s federal secretary, Teri O’Toole.
“This is a far cry from the Qantas of just a couple of years ago, which declared open war against their cabin crew employees and held a gun to the heads of workers with applications to terminate their enterprise agreement.
“This agreement strikes the right balance between getting the cabin crew a much-needed pay rise, securing future work for Australian crew, and providing the business certainty in the competitive international marketplace.
“Thanks to this in-principle agreement, for the first time in many years, cabin crew will not be forced to trade off hard-won conditions to gain a pay rise, and Qantas profits will flow through to cabin crew in the form of increased pay and improved working conditions.”
Additionally, crew from labour-hire company QF Cabin Crew Australia Pty Ltd, which is wholly owned by Qantas, will be brought into direct employment with the airline, said O’Toole.
“The employment of crew from the labour-hire entity into the parent company is a historic moment for our members who have felt like second-class citizens, and this will hopefully assist in closing the loophole employers have exploited across the airline industry,” she said.
“Our next focus is to deliver fairness for Qantas domestic cabin crew currently employed by labour-hire firms on second-rate pay and working conditions.”
Qantas Group’s chief people officer, Catherine Walsh, said the airline’s cabin crew “continues to deliver exceptional service to our customers every day”.
“We have had positive engagement with the FAAA as we work together to meet the requirements of the legislation while ensuring our business can continue to grow and compete,” she said.
“The decision to support the Qantas Domestic Same Job, Same Pay applications will result in wage increases for hundreds of our short-haul cabin crew.
“The in‑principle agreement we have reached with the FAAA will, if voted up by employees, also mean an increase in pay for most long‑haul cabin crew, while also ensuring our international business can continue to grow in a fiercely competitive environment.”
FAAA members are set to vote on the deal by the end of October.
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says:It would be fair to say that in recent years QF has not endeared itself in particular to it’s own people and infuriated a huge number of customers in that process. This past week has seen a series of announcements from QF senior management which clearly will heal the wounds inflicted by one AJ on virtually every area of the operation, in reality those decisions just had to be implemented because the current business climate is stacked against business and any attempt to moderate claims is doomed to failure due to the alliance of Unions with the Govt.
Unfortunately, a continuation of generous agreements in favour of the union demands may well inhibit the viability of the enterprise concerned. The country as a whole is concerned about cost pressures and the maintenance of the business concerned, just handing out monies is not the recipe, neither are systems like “Competitive tendering” or “Labour hire” within staffing areas. All of us have to realize that there is only ONE way for business to succeed, – Increase sales or, cut costs. Thats the easy bit, doing it is the problem.