ASU delegates and officials have met with Virgin to hear their proposal to engage casual Supplementary Labour to address staff shortages in 3 ports: BNE/MEL/ADL.
Virgin are not proposing to engage casuals in SYD at this time because the current number of Team Members who are available to work at this time still exceeds the number of block-hours of flying that need to be rostered in that port.
The ASU has been pressing Virgin for their forecasts to ramp-up operations over the coming months, return full-time Team Members to their minimum contractual hours, part-time Team Members to more meaningful hours and other resourcing opportunities, as well as implementing your new EA.
Understandably, all Team Members who are working less than their minimum hours of engagement or taking long periods of LWOP as part of a Stand Down arrangement, want to know that Virgin is prioritising them.
Guest Services resourcing forecasts
The ASU is very concerned that Virgin meets the commitments to existing Team Members that they made as part of bargaining your new EA – including their commitment to restrict the use of Supplementary Labour for seasonal peak periods and facilitate the return of employees from LWOP before hiring any new employees.
We have sought commitments from Virgin on the following:
Return full-time Team Members in 3 ports (BNE/MEL/ADL) to their 38 hours’ per week by RP5 (19-Apr).
Increase minimum full-time hours in SYD to 30 hours/week by RP5.
Immediately determine who in the pool of employees taking LWOP wants to return to work and take all steps necessary to return those employees to the available to work pool (BNE/MEL/ADL).
If Virgin goes ahead with their plan to engage Supplementary Labour, no full-time or part-time Team Members should be worse-off. There should be no redundancies for existing Team Members and any new Team Member engaged through a 3rd-party must be converted to permanent Casual employment by 30 June 2021 - if staff shortages continue after all employees due to return from LWOP by October 2021, then Casual employees should also be converted to part-time employment.
Sydney EOI
We have also asked Virgin to respond to ASU concerns about an EOI sent to SYD and BNE staff to work from MEL for the Easter period.
The ASU was not consulted about the EOI and has raised concerns about the terms of the proposed arrangement that may also involve working in ADL.
If you work interstate you should receive your full entitlements to Duty Travel, Overnight and Travel allowances in your EA - including provision of accommodation.
We are planning to meet with Virgin on Monday, 29 March 2021 to hear their responses to the concerns raised and will update you next week on the outcome.
Got a question?
Speak to your local organiser for more information.
ASU Organiser:
| Organiser | ASU Branch | Contact |
| Megan Denny | Qld Together | 1800 177 244 |
| Thomas Russell | NSW US Branch | 0419 761 320 |
| Imogen Sturni | Vic PS | 0433 339 656 |
| Lesley Till | SA/NT | 0497 555 875 |