‘Fairness’: Desperate plea from airline staff

Pilots, cabin crew, and ground staff at Virgin Australia will gather at Brisbane airport on Tuesday to call on owner Bain Capital to commit to a five-point plan before “pushing ahead” with a public listing.

The plan, submitted by the Transport Workers Union, calls on US-based Bain Capital to prioritise good and secure jobs and ix workplace issues that have caused stress, fatigue and high turnover.

The union is also calling on Bain to invest in “technology, fleet and workers” and to offer the airline’s 7000 staff an annual $1000 employee share scheme in conjunction with the public listing.

TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said workers were instrumental in seeing Virgin through the administration process and called on Bain Capital to ensure “long-term success”.

“The Virgin workforce is at the core of the airline’s reputation and service standards,” he said.

“Workers are eager to get back to that workplace culture after pandemic sacrifices and rostering issues have caused workers to fall behind and staff turnover and absenteeism to rise.

“Ground workers, cabin crew and pilots are standing together to call for fairness, respect and the opportunity to build and maintain Virgin Australia as the best airline it can be.”

Virgin Australia entered voluntary administration in April 2020 amid the Covid pandemic and nationwide lockdowns that resulted in the standing down of thousands of airline staff.

Only months later, Bain Capital agreed to purchase Australia’s second-biggest airline for $3.5bn amid reports the airline was losing about $200m a month when it went into administration.

Less than two years later and Virgin submitted its first full-year of profit in more than a decade in early 2023, raking in a whopping $2.5bn, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Mr Kaine claimed workers had been instrumental in returning the airline to profitability following its sale, and Bain stood to gain “hundreds of millions” from the public listing.

“It is only right that hardworking staff are rewarded for their efforts through a reasonable employee share scheme, the likes of which are common in Australia,” Mr Kaine said.

“Aviation must be rebalanced to ensure good quality jobs and service standards are prioritised over corporate greed, which has run riot at Qantas and dominated the industry.

“Workers are calling on Bain to join them in campaigning for a Safe and Secure Skies Commission to restore aviation to a stable, reliable industry for all.”

The union said Virgin ground staff had begun enterprise agreement negotiations, with pilots expected to begin the same process soon.

The airline was last month forced by the Fair Work Commission to increase pay to ground staff and cabin crew by 5.75 per cent.

The ruling led to an automatic increase in pay for between 500-600 of the Virgin’s staff.

Tuesday’s demands, which also included industry reform, will also be submitted to the Queensland Investment Corporation.

More to come

Originally published as Virgin staff rally for better conditions ahead of public listing