Virgin ground crew step towards strike for new pay deal
Virgin Australia ground staff could walk off the job as talks over pay and conditions stall, and the Transport Workers Union claims the airline is leaving baggage handlers in “pay poverty”.
Ground crew on Monday asked the Fair Work Commission for a protected action ballot after months of negotiations over a deal on pay and conditions. Virgin cabin crew are also seeking higher wages in a tight employment market.
Months of negotiations have failed to secure a new pay deal for Virgin ground staff. James Alcock
“Australians have watched in horror as standards have plummeted in aviation following Qantas’ illegal outsourcing of ground workers,” TWU assistant national secretary Nick McIntosh said.
“These are workers that get planes safely in the air: securing loads, ensuring weight is balanced, handling dangerous goods, and feeding vital information to pilots. They’re the ones making sure passengers can collect their bags, wheelchairs and pets at their destination.”
Unlike Qantas, which has no plans to reinstate the 1700 ground crew who were illegally outsourced to save on costs during the pandemic, Virgin has kept its equivalent workers in-house. The group has been locked in pay talks for some months, while cabin crew and pilots started negotiations more recently.
The TWU said negotiations had only yielded a 73¢ an hour increase for ground crew on the lowest pay grade, where salaries had already been forced higher when the award minimum wage rose from July 1.
Virgin’s current offer – which workers have rejected – is on average 3 per cent higher in year one, followed by 3 per cent increases in years two and three.
“Virgin now has some of the lowest pay and conditions across the industry and is turning a deaf ear to its workers,
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