Jetstar fails to provide a fair pay offer but moves on rosters
Your Union, the ASU, met with Jetstar to negotiate your new working conditions.
Pay
Workers are facing an extreme cost of living pressures, and Alan Joyce has been rewarded with a 15% pay rise while the Group’s workers are being left to suffer.
Your delegates have overwhelmingly rejected the Qantas Group pay policy, which would see a pay freeze apply to Jetstar workers in 2022 and 2023. However, the airline agreed to increase the Baggage Commission scheme to 10% over your next enterprise agreement.
Jetstar has reaffirmed that there is little to no scope to move on any further financial benefits, such as pay or penalty rates, for you. It is disappointing because Qantas Group has acknowledged that it is now in an improved position and has recently increased its pay offer from 2% to 3% for a selected group of its employees. It is untenable for Jetstar workers not to receive a pay rise with the current cost of living crisis.
Rosters
While the airline pay offer is disappointing, we welcome the movement on improving work-life balance and safety in the workplace. We are currently negotiating around the following:
- Minimising changes to a published roster at -7,
- Ensuring proper rest breaks for you when you are rotating from a night shift to a morning shift,
- Ensuring better breaks where a single day off occurs, and
- Establishing mechanisms for better consultation over the rosters.
Outstanding issues
We are yet to finalise issues that are important to you, such as:
- Improved rights to FWAs,
- Providing proper job security, so you have comfort that your job is secure,
- Supporting the role of ASU delegates. ASU delegates volunteer to represent you and often go unpaid. We want to ensure delegates receive paid training, so they are up to date on union issues and industrial relations, and
- Supporting workers who experience a miscarriage.
The ASU is pushing for Industrial Relations reform.
Emeline Gaske, Assistant National Secretary, appeared before a Senate Inquiry into the Industrial Relations “Secure Jobs, Better Pay” bill calling for the Senate to pass the bill to get wages growing.
It is incomprehensible that our current industrial relations system would allow employers, like the Qantas Group, to freeze workers’ wages during this cost of living crisis. Recently, the Fair Work Commission gave very clear consideration to the cost of living for the lowest-paid workers when it increased the Award wages, but Alan Joyce has not and would rather continue down the draconian path of freezing wages.
The Bill, in part, would empower the Fair Work Commission to arbitrate enterprise bargaining disputes which would allow the Fair Work Commission to continue to recognise the cost of living issues and determine an appropriate pay raise where the Union and employer cannot.
For the Senate not to pass the legislation, it would reinforce Alan Joyce receiving a 15% pay increase as acceptable. In comparison, Jetstar workers would experience a minimum 11% cut in pay (in real terms) over the next years. You can sign the petition to ask the Senate to pass the Bill here (
https://www.australianunions.org.au/email-your-mp/send-your-senator-a-message/).
If you or your colleagues aren’t already members of the ASU, we encourage you to join your union today
https://www.asu.asn.au/asujoin.
If you require any support or additional information, please get in touch with your local ASU delegates or ASU organiser at:
