Jetstar Meeting – Update for members
Our Union met with Senior Jetstar Management yesterday via a national teleconference to discuss and go over a number of issues including the following:
- Rosters & Resourcing,
- Increase in domestic operations,
- Fly Well Program
Rostering & Resourcing
Over the past few weeks we have had several members contact the ASU raising concerns about the fairness and equity is providing work in particular for CSO’s. There have been some CSO’s that appear to be getting more regular shifts / rosters whilst many other CSO’s remain at home and have not worked since the stand downs commenced. The concerns and frustration are being shown from both sides which includes CSO’s that would like to have access to some shifts and hours at work and also from the CSO’s that have been working more regularly than others and wouldn’t mind having a break and giving the opportunity for other CSO’s to come back to the airport and do some shifts. Our Union has raised this with Senior management via email recently and asked that they look in to their recent allocations of shifts and explain why some CSO’s appear to be rostered more regularly whilst others are missing out completely? We were hoping to get some clarity on this yesterday, however, Management advised that they were still looking into their CSO rostering allocations over the past few weeks and will respond back to us shortly. We will provide an update on shifts / roster allocations as soon as we hear back from senior management.
In the meantime, they identified that those CSO’s currently rostered and working will have their rosters extended for another week and that once they have collated all the recent shift allocations for CSO’s to see who’s worked and who hasn’t, they will revert back to the fortnightly shift rosters and roster CSO’s accordingly. The selection process for who gets to work is meant to be a random alphabetical “letters in a bucket” selection and subject to the letters chosen, CSO’s and other required staff who’s surnames matched the letters selected would be given shifts as long as they had the relevant skills to perform the roles. Not difficult but somehow there appears to be a less random outcome and some people “coincidentally” appear to be getting selected often? Please let me know if you have any evidence or information to indicate that this process is not being followed and that people are being “targeted” to either work or remain stood down.
We have also had to deal with a few examples of members that have been stood down and then unexpectedly been given extremely short notice that they have been “stood back up” and are required to work again for a very short period of sometimes one day or less. Where our union has been made aware of this happening we have been able to assist the members involved in resolving their situations however we have informed Jetstar that they need to provide reasonable notice of any request to return to work and also the requirement to genuinely consider any reasons that a member may have which delays their immediate ability to return to work. Some members have found 2nd jobs, some have children or elderly parents to look after etc and they cannot simply drop everything with short notice and after 10 weeks of being stood down, be expected to turn up to work overnight. If any member finds themselves in a similar situation, please don’t hesitate to contact the ASU for assistance.
Increase in domestic operations
Management have advised that they plan to increase their domestic flights from current levels to between 15% to 25% capacity by the end of July. This is subject to the various States that continue to maintain border restrictions opening up and allowing domestic travel to resume. The direct impact on each Port remains unclear but for Melbourne it looks like an increase to 3 daily flights from Melbourne to Sydney and an increase for Melbourne to Brisbane flights to a total of 5 per week. When we asked for a breakdown on what this means specifically for additional staff requirements, management advised that they didn’t have the details with them and would follow up and provide this to us.
International operations
According to management, there is no short term improvement expected for International flights however there is some limited opportunity for the resumption of “Trans Tasman” flights between Australia and New Zealand recommencing shortly subject to State and Federal governments opening up border restrictions. This means that currently there continues to be no meaningful work available for staff on international duties and the stand downs will continue for those impacted until further notice.
Fly Well program
Jetstar will be implementing the Fly Well program identical to what Qantas announced several weeks ago and we raised several queries in relation to what it will mean for Jetstar members? The Fly Well program is meant to identify several key initiatives which is designed to provide the flying public with some confidence that extra measures have been introduced so that they can travel safely whilst minimising any risk of Covid 19 being transmitted. Whilst this all sounds well and good in theory, our Union wanted to be satisfied that it will also deliver safety improvements and reductions of any risks for staff working at the airports. There are several parts to the Fly Well program but one of the immediate changes at the airports will be the installing and testing of “Hygiene Screens” similar to those that supermarkets have implemented over recent months to separate the shoppers from the checkout staff.
We have been told that 2 varieties of the screens will be delivered today and installed tomorrow and then over the next week will be assessed to determine which one is best suited to maximise protections for staff. We have also been told that Jetstar has involved local HSR (Health & Safety Reps) in this process but to the best of our knowledge, we are not aware of any HSR’s in Melbourne being involved and have asked management to advise which HSR in Melbourne they claim to have involved and consulted with as required under the OHS laws in Victoria?
Other aspects of the Fly well program includes enhanced and increased cleaning and sanitising of kiosks, screens, service desks, etc. We have advised management that we expect Melbourne Airport or dedicated cleaners will be responsible for the increase sanitising of all these areas and equipment and that our CSO’s will not be expected to perform these duties. Management agree but have yet to advise who will be responsible to ensure that the enhanced sanitising will actually occur. Again, we will provide updates as we get them.
If you have any queries or question in relation to any of the above or any matter you feel we may be able to assist you with, please don’t hesitate to contact your ASU Organiser Victor Jose at vjose@asupsvic.org