Consultation at Airports continues

On Friday 10th July 2020 your USU/ASU reps and officials had our second meeting with Qantas airports management about the expression of interest process the company is proposing for USU/ASU covered redundancies at Australian airports and lounges.

Qantas management has given us a lot of information to understand, absorb and question to ensure that our members can understand both the process and the outcomes that Qantas wants to achieve. We want to ensure everyone has all the materials and information available to be in a position to make their decision about what to do when the Expressions of interest are released. You need to understand the options and so what is being said needs to be clear and concise so as to make hard decisions as easy as possible in the circumstances.

Your reps have been through the Qantas materials and asked a lot of questions – we are still not happy with the Q & A’s that Qantas want to put out as they do not achieve what they say they do – we also believe there is a lack of clarity on the process after the EOIs are finalised. Also we know that a number of people will want to know if Jobkeeper is continuing post September 2020 and are waiting on announcements from the government which are expected on 23 July 2020. We did not want to close the EOIs before this information is known and in particular how the aviation industry will be affected.

Qantas is proposing options including Special Leave without Pay and changing from Full time to part time temporarily – we have been seeking more information on how this will work and so have had to schedule another meeting which will be on Thursday 17th July.

Disappointingly Qantas management are still refusing to pay staff the bonus that was earned in 2018 despite the unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in. The company still wants us to have negotiated EBA12 before paying the bonus – an impossibility given the company themselves have not been in a position to negotiate the EBA since March 2020

What is next?

Our next meeting is on 17th July 2020 – we will then report back on what happens next.

Need more information?

Speak to your organiser for more information:

If you are not a member of the USU now is the time to join – www.usu.org.au/join