Lockdowns against Covid in Greater Sydney and southeast Queensland have hit Qantas hard and fast, with the airline standing down 2500 frontline Qantas and Jetstar employees for “an estimated two months in response to ongoing Covid outbreaks”.
The airline had been steadily building up domestic services after the closure of Australia’s international borders.
Qantas insists the drastic stand-down move, announced yesterday, is a temporary measure “to deal with a significant drop in flying caused by Covid restrictions in Greater Sydney in particular and the knock-on border closures in all other states and territories”. A statement by the airline carried the following point in bold type: No job losses are expected.
The decision will directly hit domestic pilots, cabin crew and airport workers, mostly in New South Wales but also in other states. Qantas said its workers would be given two weeks’ notice before the stand-down took effect, with pay continuing until mid-August.
Unions reacted with shock.
“Qantas announced the stand-downs without pay just hours after the Federal Government revealed the wage subsidy – but said it would only go to cabin crew and pilots and only cover 50% of those stood down,” the Transport Workers Unions (TWU) protested.
“Ground crew such as baggage handlers and cleaners have been cut out of the wage subsidy – which Qantas now no longer employs after it outsourced them.”
TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine called yesterday’s decision “a big blow for aviation workers”.
“Aviation workers will today be reeling from this latest news,” he said.
“There is utter confusion over who will receive the wage subsidy,” Kaine said. “Qantas says it won’t pay workers stood down but the Federal Government says it will only pay supports to cabin crew and pilots – and even then only half of them. The Federal Government and Qantas are playing a game of Russian roulette with aviation workers over who will be able to pay their bills and who won’t.”
Qantas stated that income support in the form of government disaster payments would “be key to helping eligible employees get through this challenging period and the Qantas Group welcomes the targeted Federal Government support offered for those stood down outside of declared hotspots and to retain domestic aviation capability”.
Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce said the “difficult decision” to trigger stand downs reflected the reality confronting many businesses operating in New South Wales.
“This is clearly the last thing we want to do, but we’re now faced with an extended period of reduced flying and that means no work for a number of our people.
“We’ve absorbed a significant amount of cost since these recent lockdowns started and continued paying our people their full rosters despite thousands of cancelled flights.
“Qantas and Jetstar have gone from operating almost 100% of their usual domestic flying in May to less than 40% in July because of lockdowns in three states.
“Hopefully, once other states open back up to South Australia and Victoria in the next week or so, and the current outbreak in Brisbane is brought under control, our domestic flying will come back to around 50 to 60 per cent of normal levels.
“Based on current case numbers, it’s reasonable to assume that Sydney’s borders will be closed for at least another two months. We know it will take a few weeks once the outbreak is under control before other states open to New South Wales and normal travel can resume.
“Fortunately, we know that once borders do reopen, travel is at the top of people’s list and flying tends to come back quickly, so we can get our employees back to work.
“This is extremely challenging for the 2500 of our people directly impacted, but it’s also very different from this time last year when we had more than 20,000 employees stood down and most of our aircraft in hibernation for months on end.
“The vaccine rollout means the end is in sight and the concept of lockdowns will be a thing of the past. Australia just needs more people rolling up their sleeves as more vaccine arrives.
“The challenge around opening international borders remains. There are still several thousand Qantas and Jetstar crew who normally fly internationally and who have been on long periods of stand down since the pandemic began. Higher vaccination rates are also key to being able to fly overseas again, and finally getting all our people back to work,” Joyce added.
Edited by Peter Needham
