Qantas domestic flight attendants have voted favor of striking to advance their pay and other demands. Qantas wants a pay freeze and demands increasing the maximum duty periods to 14 hours.
The flight attendants must give a minimum of three days of notice before striking for 24 hours. Flight attendants could also refuse any overtime or performing boarding activities (are Australian FA’s only who also oversee the boarding process at the gate?).
Qantas has offered its employees two years of pay freezes (essentially pay cuts considering the inflationary environment) followed by two years of pay raises of 3% + a bonus payment and 1,000 stocks.
Qantas has reported record profits lately while demanding concessions from its employees.
Excerpt from Financial Review:
Flight Attendants Association of Australia (FAAA) federal secretary Teri O’Toole said members wanted to avoid disrupting travellers over Christmas, but Qantas had to come up with a better offer to avoid broader strikes.
The airline has offered all unionised workers a pay deal with two years of wage freezes followed by, in the cabin crews’ case, 3 per cent pay rises for four years. It has also offered a $5000 bonus to all who sign up to the deals – which unions have described as a “bribe” – and 1000 shares in the company.
“Cabin crew have worked through the pandemic, have dealt with unhappy passengers due to the issues with baggage, cancelled flights and all of the troubles Qantas has had – they have felt the brunt of this,” Ms O’Toole said.
Conclusion
It is a challenging environment for Qantas to require further pay freezes and up to 14-hour work schedules while making record profits.
Australians have most recently had a love/hate relationship with its flag carrier that has seen more critical views from the flying public than previously.
