Unions slam Qantas for “negligible” 1% wage increase as strikes loom

Aviation unions have slammed Qantas, labelling the airline’s move to raise wages by 1 per cent as a “PR stunt” to draw attention away from looming strikes.

Announcing its second-half return to profit on Thursday, Qantas said it would adjust its annual wage increase from 2 per cent to 3 per cent after a two-year freeze.

According to a joint statement from the Transport Workers Union (TWU), The Flight Attendants Association of Australia (FAAA) and the Australian Services Union (ASU), the airline is “championing 1 per cent relief to its under-staffed and severely fatigued workforce while using a plethora of tactics to evade collective bargaining for thousands of workers”.

On Tuesday, cabin crew with the FAAA filed a dispute in the Fair Work Commission over Qantas’ approach to ‘good faith bargaining’, and a protected action ballot after workers faced threats of outsourcing to coerce them into agreeing to work much longer hours with no extension of rest breaks.

Recently, the ASU vowed to fight Qantas over its attempt to strip 1300 workers of their collective agreement and push them onto individual contracts.

Since early 2020, Qantas workers have had a two-year unilateral wage freeze followed by threats of outsourcing, agreement terminations and payment bribes to accept deals of only 2 per cent – now lifting by 1 per cent – which leaves them far behind skyrocketing costs of living with no ability to negotiate in light of massive profit predictions, according to the unions.

“This is just more smoke and mirrors, crystal ball gazing and blame-shifting from Alan Joyce,” said TWU national secretary Michael Kaine.

“Wage results in Australia are decided through good faith bargaining with workers, unions, and employers – a concept lost on Joyce’s management team.

“There is an understanding in this country that workers have the right to negotiate collectively in respect of their fair share of the profits they generate.

“Workers have been forced to bear the brunt of Qantas’ mismanagement and tactics to illegally sack, threaten and squeeze pay and conditions. Qantas management under Joyce has treated its own workforce as its nemesis – workers have been villainised, victimised and are now being used as pawns in Qantas’ latest PR stunt.

Kaine has urged the federal government must step in with a Safe and Secure Skies Commission to eradicate the “dictatorship management style of Qantas”  and restore aviation to an industry of good quality jobs and service.

“Qantas is attempting to strip 1300 workers of their collective agreement and bargaining rights. A unilateral decision to add 1 per cent to workers covered by agreements is no relief to workers set to lose their entitlements built up over decades of negotiations,” added ASU assistant national secretary Emeline Gaske.

“This PR stunt is of little financial concern to Qantas with massive profits forecast for next year, millions more in executive bonuses on the way, and a shrinking workforce because of its illegal outsourcing, offshoring, fanatical redundancies and attempts to strip workers of their hard-won pay and conditions.

“The ASU has vowed to draw a line in the sand and fight this every step of the way.”

FAAA Federal Secretary Teri O’Toole said cabin crew have been “pushed to the brink”  and filed applications in the Fair Work Commission for a protected action ballot and to challenge Qantas’ approach to what should be good faith bargaining.

“For months crew have worked hard to attempt to get a fair agreement in place but have instead faced outsourcing threats and a game of snakes and ladders for Qantas to even agree to meet with us at times,” O’Toole said.

“Throwing an extra 1 per cent at workers while forecasting $1.2 billion underlying profits and making every attempt under the sun to avoid collective bargaining and bully workers into accepting deals that severely decrease their entitlements and work-life balance is an insult.

“We will continue to challenge this appalling behaviour by Qantas and get workers a better deal.”

Featured image: Facebook/TWU