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The TWU has branded as “obscene” Qantas’ forecast full-year profit of more than $2.4 billion, and called on the airline to pay back the $2.7 billion it received from the Morrison government during the pandemic.
TWU national secretary Michael Kaine (pictured) said the forecast was the result of the airline “bleeding dry workers, passengers and the taxpaying public”, and lambasted Qantas for increasing its share buyback scheme by $100 million.
“The $100 million increase to the share buyback scheme is a kick in the guts to illegally sacked workers who were told their jobs were sacrificed to save this amount of money,” he said, referring to the 1700 outsourced staff members who are the subject of a High Court appeal by the Flying Kangaroo.
“Qantas passengers have faced chronic airport chaos because those 1700 families lost their livelihoods, which has been found twice by the Federal Court to have been illegally motivated to avoid them accessing their industrial rights.”
The union has reiterated calls for a “Safe and Secure Skies Commission” to improve job security and service standards rather than focusing on “exorbitant profits, shareholder buybacks and multi-million-dollar executive bonuses”.
“A $2.5 billion profit for the first full financial year since airfares skyrocketed, complaints against Qantas rose 70 per cent, the Federal Court found for a second time that the airline was responsible for the largest case of illegal sackings in Australian history, and a recently announced wet-leasing arrangement, essentially outsourcing and offshoring more essential jobs, just shows how out of whack aviation has become,” said Kaine.
“This clearly demonstrates the need for dedicated regulation to rein in corporate greed for the sake of a reliable industry with quality jobs and service standards.”
In a statement today, Qantas said it had finalised 38 enterprise agreements under its revised wage policy. This represents around 80 per cent of its current EBA-covered workforce.
“These employees are eligible for a $5,000 recovery boost and around 20,000 employees are expected to be eligible for a recovery bonus of up to $6,500 based on the current Qantas share price, vesting after its full year results in August 2023,” the airline said.
