Jetstar: Short staffing is causing havoc for many airport workers

USU/ASU delegates met with Jetstar to discuss important matters, such as workload, rosters and leave approvals.

Short staffing
Melbourne and Coolangatta airports are suffering short staffing. It leads members to work shifts of 15 hours or greater. The short staffing is having its impacts on staff health and not being able to take annual leave to recover. The issue is particularly acute at Coolangatta, and we have asked for:

1. Reasons why very few leave applications (if any) were approved during August,
2. Reasons why current annual leave applications for Coolangatta are not approved, and
3. That we are involved in the plan to address this issue.

Where your health has become impacted, or your safety is at risk, members should complete an incident report with the airline.

Jetstar has indicated they hope that enough new recruits will be on board by October to address the issue in Melbourne and Coolangatta. Jetstar reported recruitment issues at several other ports, but Sydney has reached the allocation and should have no issues around staffing levels.

Annual Leave
Your delegates and Jetstar openly discussed opening up leave periods in 2023 and what the process should look be. Your enterprise agreement stipulates that generally, annual leave will be taken in blocks of one week, and employees can take up to five single-day annual leave days as well. Please contact your delegate or Organiser to provide any feedback on what the annual leave process should be.

Rosters
Currently, in the rostering system, Jetstar applies an overlay that maps airport workers 1 in 6 weekends off and RDOs. The overlay has been introduced since COVID-19 to ensure members are entitled to their weekend off; however, it has had the perverse effect of providing an uneven distribution of weekend work because the system blocks certain days that can be worked. We have Jetstar look into removing the overlay to allow greater flexibility for members to shift swap and work on weekends.

New process for customer recovery
Jetstar presented a project that the airline is working on that will assist customers when there is a cancellation of their service. Importantly, the program will send alerts to airport services before customers and automatic communication to customers. Jetstar has informed us that there will be no impact on staffing, and Jetstar will provide training. Your delegates provided some initial feedback, and we look forward to future updates.

Pass this bulletin to your colleagues who aren’t in the union. They can join atwww.usu.org.au/join.

For support with any workplace issues, please contact your USU/ASU Branch:

USU/ASU Organisers: