Virgin Australia staff threaten to strike and cause flight chaos over ‘rock-bottom pay’

Fatigue, long working hours, high staff turnover and unrealistic turnaround times are behind the push for a vote on protected industrial action by cabin crew at Virgin Australia, a union says.

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) says airline workers will apply for a protected action vote on Monday in an attempt to force management to listen to their concerns.

TWU national secretary Michael Caine said on Sunday the vote comes three weeks after Virgin ground staff applied for and received a protected action vote from the Fair Work Commission.

Mr Caine said airline staff are tired of missing breaks or having to take on second jobs due to successive pay rise freezes, after their loyalty during the pandemic helped the airline return to profits.

“Owners Bain Capital have not kept their end of the bargain to correct rock-bottom salaries, improve work-life balance and fix unsafe schedules,” he said.

The union said the push to vote on industrial action was prompted after Virgin Australia management canceled a recent meeting where they were supposed to respond to workers’ demands with an updated deal offer.

However, Virgin Australia said the unions had accepted its request to move the meeting by three working days to ensure there was sufficient time to review and respond to the latest claim.

The TWU said workers maintain understaffing is leading to in-flight safety issues, which could endanger customers’ lives.

Mr Caine said the airline’s employees were experiencing burnout.

“Employees are completely exhausted, and several cabin crew members are reporting near misses on their ride home after long shifts,” he said.

‘We need to see a significant shift in Virgin’s negotiating approach to ensure a fair, sustainable supply of enterprise agreements and avoid strikes as a last resort.’

A Virgin Australia spokesperson said the current cabin crew agreement expired less than two weeks ago and the airline was negotiating in good faith with the intention of reaching an amicable settlement.

The TWU’s move to vote was a common part of the early process and Virgin Australia looked forward to the next round of negotiations on November 15, the spokesperson said.

“Virgin Australia remains confident that an amicable resolution will be found,” they said in a statement.

“One that appropriately rewards our valued cabin crew while protecting Virgin Australia’s underlying commercial resilience and the excellent value and choice it provides to the Australian traveling public every day.”