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Unions seek clarity as Qantas announces further stand downs

April 20, 2020

The Qantas Engineers Alliance Unions are consulting with Qantas to address concerns relating to the second wave of engineering member stand downs.

Qantas announced yesterday it was standing down a further 10 per cent of the engineering workforce – which will affect around 200 employees – as a result of the decline in flights and the reduction in work associated with aircraft storage and aircraft appearance.

The Alliance is seeking clarification over a number of matters and will continue to discuss with Qantas what maintenance work can be done to limit the stand downs which are due to start on 22 April.

Any members affected by this latest decision are advised to check their work emails as the company has distributed important information about the JobKeeper program.Please contact your AWU delegate or organiser if you need help or have any questions.

Since the first wave of stand downs was announced, the Alliance Unions have worked tirelessly to keep members informed and to ensure they have access to JobKeeper payments – the first of which will reach members today.

At a meeting with Alliance and Qantas representatives yesterday, organisers pushed Qantas for more information about a time frame for any third wave of stand downs, but Qantas was not forthcoming.

Qantas was also unable to answer the Alliance Unions’ questions about how the different pay periods for JobKeeper (Monday-Sunday) and Qantas (Wednesday-Tuesday) will be reconciled in order to correctly account for shift penalties and other entitlements. The Alliance will continue to seek clarification on this.

The Alliance Unions will also continue to lobby the Federal Government to ensure that any bail out or funding given to the aviation sector reaches Qantas workers and get people back up and working. Government money should be used to keep people in jobs, not help shareholders.

Qantas did confirm that where the company calls in employees who have been stood down to work on an ad hoc basis, the stand down notice of those employees will be revoked.

Court case update

On the issue of accessing sick leave whilst being stood down, a further hearing has been scheduled to be heard at the Federal Court on April 28th. As this is live and urgent issue the Alliance expects an expedient decision from the Court.

We will keep members updated on this and other matters.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about the communications Qantas sends you, please contact your AWU Delegate or Organiser.

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