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The USU/ASU met with Qantas management on 28 October 2021 to discuss the company’s plans for reopening. We’re excited to say that the company will be bringing all Airport and Lounges employees back to work by 8 December.
This is good news for many employees, but others will have a lot of worries and questions. We’ll be working to make sure the return to work is fair and members have as much certainty about their rosters and hours of work as possible.
New Hires: The company is hiring new employees in Airports across the country. We’ve asked the company for details of the new hires at each port. The company has committed to us that new hires won’t start while employees are stood down.
Rosters: We’ve asked Qantas to bring back stable long term rosters. Qantas have committed to reviewing the schedules for each port to identify where it can return to a four-week roster like the one that operated in May before the recent lockdowns. They will then consult with us about a framework to return to stable rostering and normal rostering committees. We’ve told the company that they should get things back to normal by the start of 2022. We have also asked them to open up leave bids for 2022 as soon as possible.
SLWOP: The company says it is willing to consider applications to extend SLWOP in some circumstances. Members need to be aware that the company says the DRP/IRP will not apply after 8 December 2021. They say the government funding no longer applies after that point. We’ve asked for more detail because this is different from our understanding of how the payments work.
COVID Safety: The company has committed to giving us update on Rapid Antigen Testing, isolation requirements and vaccine booster shots as soon as possible.
Local meetings will be held to discuss reopening plans in the coming weeks. We plan to have another rational consultation in late November/Early December.
Pass this bulletin to your colleagues who aren’t in the union. They can join at www.usu.org.au/join.
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