Congratulations to every member who participated in industrial action throughout this campaign. Your determination and solidarity worked. You told Jetstar you are worth more than 2.1% in 2026.
Faced with workers standing together, Jetstar was forced to return to the bargaining table with a significantly improved offer. As always, members will decide the union’s position. We have held sessions to hear from members on whether you endorse this package or endorse a 24-hour strike.
Backdated Pay and Service Increments Secured
Jetstar has agreed to bring forward the benefit of the wage increases and new service increments if employees vote to approve the Agreement.
This is a significant concession from Jetstar that benefits employees.
Under the normal bargaining process, wage increases are typically back paid. However, new entitlements such as service-based increments would usually not take effect until the Agreement is approved by the Fair Work Commission and comes into operation, which would likely be around January 2027.
Instead, the USU/ASU has secured a commitment from Jetstar that:
- The 5% wage increase will be backdated to 1 October 2026;
- The new 3-year, 5-year and 7-year service increments will also be backdated to 1 October 2026; and
- All backpay will be paid no later than 18 December 2026 (Jetstar’s final off-cycle pay run for the year). This backpay being processed this year will only occur if employees support the Agreement.
Jetstar workers have shown that when you stand together and take collective action, they can win real improvements. The gains in this Agreement were not handed out by the company. They were won by members who stood together, took action and refused to accept a 2.1% outcome.
This means eligible employees will receive the benefit of both the wage increase and the new service increments from 1 October 2026, rather than having to wait until the Agreement is approved and takes effect.
For many employees, this brings forward access to the new tenure-based rates by several months and delivers a larger backpay amount before Christmas.
What About Industrial Action?
Given the significantly improved offer, your USU/ASU negotiating team has agreed to pause industrial action while members have the chance to have your say through our member consultation process. However, we are prepared to reissue further action depending on the vote outcome. USU/ASU paused the industrial action as of 12:01 am on Friday 9 October until further notice, which means workers must no longer make statements and must comply with the uniform policy as of that time.
Not Everything Has Been Secured
We did not achieve everything we pushed for; however, this offer represents improvements, and now we want to hear from you.
