USU/ASU members achieve in-principle Virgin Agreement & Next Steps

USU/ASU members have now agreed in-principle to the proposed Virgin Australia and ASU Guest Services and GCC Enterprise Agreement 2020 which will shortly go out to a vote.

Well done to all USU/ASU delegates and members for coming together and working hard to retain decent, secure jobs and conditions that will Keep Virgin Flying.

The formal process now kicks off with the Access Period opening today (Thursday 3 December), and then the agreement will go out to a vote to all workers.

What is the wage proposal?

Most importantly, we saved automatic progression! All existing employees will continue to progress through the classifications to GS4. This means most employees will get a pay rise during the life of the agreement. The base rates for existing employees is as follows:

We were also able to ensure that new employees would not be paid less than existing employees. There will be a new classification structure for new employees that means they won’t be able to progress to 3B or 4, but they will not be paid lesser rates at levels up to GS2/3A.

What else have we achieved?

• Virgin Australia have made commitments to us around job security and limiting the use of external labour hire, to make sure that Virgin workers will carry out the airline’s Guest Services work, rather than external agencies
• The agreement will only run for around 18 months: the Agreement will expire in June 2022, with negotiations for a new agreement commencing in just over 12 months in January 2022
• There will be a pathway back to the minimum 25 weekly hours a week for part time employees
  • For existing staff, the minimum hours for part time employees will be:
    • 20 hours a week from now until October 2021;
    • 22 hours a week from October 2021 to June 2022;
    • Back to 25 hours a week from June 2022.
  • For new employees, the minimum weekly hours will be 22 hours a week
• On full time employment:
  • A guaranteed minimum of 18% of employees will be Full Time;
  • Each year VA must assess the hours that have been rostered for the PT workforce, and where hours rostered at the time of roster publish have exceeded an average of 35 hours a week over the preceding 12 months, a position in the port must be converted to Full Time. Right to be appointed to the position will be in accordance with existing provisions (this is on seniority).
• New additional hours payment – If you are rostered additional hours with less than 48 hours notice (including shift extensions) you will be paid at 150% for the first 2 hours and 200% thereafter
• A new rostering committee at each port to work through local rostering issues including:
  • potential alternate roster patterns and shift arrangements;
  • work/life balance concerns;
  • team member access to Job Share and Flexible Work Arrangements;
  • ability of team members to nominate rostering preferences;
  • communications with team members regarding rostering and hours of work, including communications relating to changes to rosters/shifts;
  • processes for shift swaps/giveaways;
  • the availability of annual and long service leave;
  • ability of team members to work alternate employment while working reduced hours.
• Significantly improved consultation requirements – management must now consult if they are considering a change, not just after they have made a decision.
• Assurances that your union delegates will be able to do their jobs representing members with a delegates charter of rights.
• Requirement for consultation with employees and the ASU for future stand downs, including maximising the capacity for employees to work in secondary employment.

Well done, we’ve come a long way!

Members will remember that at the start of negotiations management put on the table a series of brutal and permanent cuts to your working conditions, as well as a total wage freeze until 2023.

USU/ASU members told the union that you would not accept a long term wage freeze or locking in permanent cuts. Your USU/ASU workplace representatives pushed back and made sure that management understood that while we were open to short term emergency measures to ensure the company is in a strong position as it emerges from voluntary administration and the devastating impacts of COVID19 on airlines.

We were guided by members every step of the way and we were able to get resolutions on every issue that members told us was important.

Well done to the USU/ASU delegates and members for coming together to knock off these cuts, and achieving an agreement that locks in decent, secure jobs and conditions for Virgin workers.

What happens now?

Members covered by the proposed Virgin Australia and ASU Guest Services and GCC Enterprise Agreement 2020 should receive an email from Virgin today – Thursday 3 December. The email contains a copy of the proposed Agreement and information about Virgin’s roadshow, and details of the vote.

If you have not received the email from Virgin about the Access Period by the end of Thursday 3 December, please contact us urgently.

Voting for the Agreement will take place by a secret online ballot conducted by an independent external provider, CorpVote. CorpVote will email and SMS you a link to vote.

Voting will open on Friday 11 December 2020 and will close on Tuesday 15 December.

More detailed voting instructions will be provided to you by Virgin. If you are covered by the Agreement and did not receive an email today, or you have any questions, please contact your local USU/ASU organiser: