Your ASU representatives met with Virgin management on Friday 1 December to continue negotiations for your next EBA.
In the weeks leading up to the meeting hundreds of VA workers have signed a petition to management calling on them to drop their claims to cut your take home pay.
Management were obviously feeling the pressure on this, and on Friday they told us that they have abandoned the following proposals:
- Cuts to penalty rates
- Cuts to higher duties allowance
- Reducing any overtime payments if a worker takes sick leave during the pay period
This is on top of a list of other wins we’ve already had:
- Getting rid of the ROS day - In its place full-time employees would be required to work one shift of 8 hours and 50 minutes in each 6 day block
- Fairer job selection procedure
- The ability for staff to make training requests and have them fairly considered
- Ensuring that salary underpayments are rectified as soon as possible, rather than making employees wait till the next pay
- Access to up 10 days family violence leave a year
- A commitment to working with the union to identify insourcing opportunities
- Increasing minimum hours of work for part time employees who want more hours (guaranteed at least 24 hours a week)
Time for Virgin to show us the money $$$
We’ve had some wins, but here we are almost 12 months into negotiations and Virgin is still only offering a 2% annual pay increase. This is despite paying other Virgin workers 2.5% pay increases a year!
It’s time for Virgin to show us the money – ground operations staff shouldn’t have to accept less than what the company has agreed to pay its other workers.
Other outstanding issues
There are some other areas in which management is still not budging:
- Cutting overtime for part time workers by making them work up to 10 hour shifts at single rates of pay
- Cutting sick leave from 18 days to 15 days a year
Our next meeting with management is 14 December 2017. The way we have got management to back off so far has been through showing them the staff are prepared to work together to stop the cuts. If you are not already a member it is time to join the union. You can join online here: www.asu.asn.au/asujoin.
If you have any questions, contact your local workplace delegate: (download the full bulletin here details) 
Virgin Australia Bulletin # 14 - 5 December 2017