Virgin Australia workers threaten strike and flight chaos over ‘lowest pay’

Fatigue, long hours, high staff turnover and unrealistic turnaround times are driving calls for a vote on protected industrial action by cabin crew at Virgin Australia, a union says.

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) says airline workers will request a protected vote on Monday to force management to listen to their concerns.

TWU national secretary Michael Caine said on Sunday the vote comes three weeks after Virgin ground staff applied for and received a protected action vote from the Fair Work Commission.

Mr Caine said the airline’s staff were fed up with missing breaks or taking second jobs because of successive pay rise freezes, after their loyalty during the pandemic helped the airline return to profitability.

“Owners Bain Capital reneged on their bargain to fix bottom-line salaries, improve work-life balance and fix uncertain schedules,” he said.

The union said the push for industrial action was fueled after Virgin Australia management recently canceled a meeting at which they were supposed to respond to workers’ demands with an updated contract offer.

However, Virgin Australia said unions had approved its request to postpone the meeting for three working days to ensure there was enough time to consider and respond to the latest demand.

The TWU said understaffing leads to safety issues on board that can put customers’ lives at risk.

Mr Caine said the airline’s staff were suffering from burnout.

“Employees are completely exhausted and several flight attendants report near misses on the drive home after long shifts,” he said.

“We need to significantly change Virgin’s negotiating approach to ensure a fair and sustainable supply of enterprise agreements and avoid strikes as a last resort.”

A Virgin Australia spokesman said the current cabin crew agreement expired less than two weeks ago and the airline was negotiating in good faith with the aim of reaching an amicable agreement.

The TWU vote movement was a common feature of the early process and Virgin Australia looked forward to the next round of negotiations on November 15, the spokesman said.

“Virgin Australia remains confident that an amicable solution will be found,” it said in a statement.

“One that appropriately rewards our valued cabin crew while protecting Virgin Australia’s core economic resilience and the outstanding value and choice it offers the Australian traveler every day.”