Same job, same wage bid by TWU to lift Jetstar crew pay

Successful action would lift the base pay of indirectly employed cabin crew by more than $9000 annually.

Jetstar has been hit with legal action over lower wages paid to indirectly employed cabin crew. Picture: Getty Images

Hundreds of low-paid Jetstar cabin crew could gain wage rises of 15 to 17 per cent under a Transport Workers Union bid to use Labor’s same job same pay laws to lift their base pay by more than $9000 annually.

Under applications to be made to the Fair Work Commission on Tuesday, the TWU will seek to increase the wages of cabin crew employed at Team Jetstar and Altara, who receive a base annual pay of $53,801 and $52,776 respectively, and bring them into line with directly employed Jetstar cabin crew who earn $62,039 a year.

The TWU bid follows the flight attendants union launching legal action against ­Qantas in June, seeking to also lift the wages of indirectly employed cabin crew members. 

The airline’s alleged exploitation of labour hire loopholes was cited by the Albanese government as a reason why the same job same pay laws were required.

Federal Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt on Monday night backed the union bid.

“For years, labour hire flight attendants at Jetstar have been working side-by-side with direct employees doing exactly the same work, working the same long hours and wearing the same uniform,” Mr Watt said. “But they have been paid less than workers working alongside them, just because they are labour hire. But now because of the Albanese Government’s laws that close the labour hire loophole, these low-paid workers are able to right this wrong, by applying for fair pay at the Fair Work Commission.”

TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said on Monday that Qantas under Alan Joyce systematically splintered and outsourced the workforce across 38 different entities, making aviation jobs low-paid and insecure.

According to the union, Altara workers are not paid for training, have no pathway to direct employment at Jetstar, and experience substandard rostering practices and breaks.

Mr Kaine said cabin crew at Altara and Team Jetstar working side-by-side with directly hired workers were paid significantly less and were some of the lowest-paid workers in the industry. He said a successful action by the union would potentially deliver pay rises of more than $10,000 for workers on the lowest pay.

“Qantas has pioneered the strategy of using loopholes to rip away good, secure jobs and replace them with lower-paid part-time, casual and labour hire jobs,” he said. “These are aviation’s first responders, responsible for onboard emergencies and with critical safety roles.

“The least they should be able to expect is to have the same pay and conditions of the person doing the job next to them.

“These applications are a step towards eliminating the Qantas model of shifting work to different companies just to pay people less.

“Bringing these cabin crew members in line with the directly hired workforce would make a huge difference to their lives.”

Jetstar declined to comment on Monday as it is yet to see the TWU application.

The Mining and Energy Union in May secured the union movement’s first win under the same job same pay laws after Thiess agreed to directly employ 27 Hunter Valley labour hire coalminers, delivering them pay rises each of more than $30,000 a year.

The TWU application came after unions capitalised on Labor’s workplace laws to force BHP to start negotiating the first union collective agreement in the Pilbara for almost a decade.

Unions will push for hundreds of workers at BHP’s large Area C and South Flank iron ore mines in the Pilbara to get guaranteed ­annual 5 per cent wage rises, higher wages for long-serving tradesmen and improved rosters.

Employers accused ­unions of exploiting a “deliberate loophole” in Labor’s laws where unions no longer have to demonstrate majority support of workers to force bargaining but can do it within five years of an agreement expiring. The last collective agreement expired in August 2019.

Mr Kaine said if Qantas was serious about turning over a new leaf and overhauling “its toxic ­culture, it needs to start treating highly skilled workers as an ­investment rather than a cost to cut”.