ASU update for QBT members
Our union Organisers and Delegates from QBT met with Qantas management yesterday in order to commence the consultation process leading up to the gradual reduction of Qantas staff at QBT between now and March 2021. As you are aware, Qantas has decided that it will not renew the current LRA it has with Helloworld after March 2021 and this means that unless Qantas can find suitable alternative roles within its business, Qantas employees at QBT will be made redundant and will be paid their relevant redundancy entitlements.
Our Union had previously tried to schedule yesterday’s meeting in mid-June however due to Helloworld Management advising us that they were unavailable or not ready to meet, our Union and Qantas decided to go ahead with the meeting in their absence.
There were a number of issues raised and discussed during yesterday’s meeting including:
- Redundancy process and time frames,
- Current workloads being excessive and the possible need to reinstate additional employees that remain stood down,
- Due to the Victorian Governments announcement of a 6-week lockdown, the possibility of temporarily closing the QBT Melbourne operations and instead re-opening Brisbane and other major city offices in lesser impacted States for the time being.
- Payroll problems and anomalies.
In terms of the redundancy process, Qantas indicated it was keen to begin to explore the preferences of its staff and will be sending some comms to all Qantas QBT Staff shortly asking each of you to nominate one of the preferences similar to the below:
- Do you want a redundancy package and if so, what is your preferred departure date ? ASAP / September 2020 / December 2020 / March 2020?
- Is your preference to look at other job opportunities elsewhere within Qantas if possible ?
- Is your preference to wait to see if Helloworld will provide an offer of employment to Qantas staff to transfer to Helloworld and what that offer may include ?
Selecting one of the above options is non-binding which means it’s an interest only and you can always change your mind. This will also give Qantas and Helloworld some indication on who wants to do what and when ? This initial information should assist in coordinating the next steps in the process with the aim to hopefully satisfy each employees choice and continue to allow QBT to operate efficiently between now and March 2021.
The issue of current workloads was also raised with some specific examples provided to Qantas management where they committed to engaging their counterparts at Helloworld to better understand how and why it appears some Qantas staff are being given unreasonable amounts of work per shift ?
There was also a proposition put to Qantas to consider a temporary closure of the Melbourne QBT operations whilst we are in a lockdown situation for the next 6 weeks, and reopening some of the other capital city operations in States that are less impacted. As Helloworld were not involved in the meeting, Qantas were unable to commit to the idea but again this will be raised with Helloworld management at the first opportunity. Various payroll problems were also identified and brought to the attention of Qantas management and whilst they claimed they were not aware these issues prior to the meeting, they did commit to following up and looking into each one and where required, resolving them.
We are hopeful of locking in another meeting with both Qantas and Helloworld management within the next fortnight to progress all of the above and we will keep members updated. In the meantime, if you have any questions or queries, please contact your ASU Organiser, Victor Jose at vjose@asupsvic.org