“Enough is enough”: Qantas cabin crew vote to strike

99 per cent of Qantas’ 1200 domestic cabin crew have voted to strike for a better pay offer.

The Flight Attendants Association of Australia (FAAA) said it will need to take a measured approach to action to minimise the impacts on Aussie travellers, despite its support for strikes.

Teri O’Toole, the national secretary of the FAAA, said they were hoping that Qantas would come back to the table with a better pay offer, that doesn’t degrade working conditions or pay.

There has not yet been a date set for strikes or a deadline for a return offer from Qantas.

The new enterprise agreement which FAAA members are striking against would result in cabin crew working for 12 hours instead of 9.5 hours and up to 14 hours in the case of a disruption. It would also mean rest periods between shifts get reduced to 10 hours when flights are disrupted and no other crew is available.

Another point of contention is the 3 per cent annual pay rises that cabin crew would receive. This came after the 2-year wage freeze that was enforced to help Qantas through the pandemic.

O’Toole said the wealth of support for industrial action shows “just how out of touch Qantas management was with staff”.

“Our members have languished under expired agreements for several years, while having to bear the burden of stand downs and the COVID pandemic,” O’Toole said.

“Meanwhile the demand for travel has rebounded strongly and Qantas is enjoying multi-billion dollar profits. Yet Qantas is asking its loyal employees, who stood by the airline through its worst days, to take pay freezes and sub-inflation pay rises while demanding massive productivity gains.”

The national secretary said that Qantas was also looking to prevent current cabin crew from working on new aircrafts, such as Boeing 737s replacement, the A321XLR.

“With this ballot outcome, flight attendants have declared enough is enough,” O’Toole said.

“Qantas can’t keep bullying them into accepting poor pay deals while threatening their jobs, while forecasting multi-billion dollar profits and huge executive bonuses.”

A Qantas spokesperson described this move by FAAA “very disappointing” given the airline is continuing to negotiate towards a new agreement.

“The proposal we’ve put forward includes 3 per cent annual pay rises and access to more than $7000 in bonus payments. Cabin crew are also in line to receive 1000 shares worth around $6000,” the spokesperson said.

“The shift length changes we’re asking for are the same that apply to crew working at other domestic airlines in Australia. The FAAA signed off these conditions as part of agreements for those airlines, but the union now claim they’re unreasonable.”

This vote to strike follows Qantas’ recent announcement that it predicts a higher profit in 1H23 than previously thought.

The Group now expects an underlying profit before tax of between $1.35 billion and $1.45 billion. This represents a $150 million increase to the profit range given in early October 2022.

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FAAA Flight Attendants Association of Australia qantas Teri O’Toole