Today's announcement of half-year underlying net profit of $279 million at Virgin has been made possible from the efforts of a workforce that has loyally stood by the airline, with the TWU calling on Virgin and Bain to continue repaying and investing in the workforce as bargaining kicks off for ground and cabin crews, with pilots set to start negotiations from September.
Ground and cabin crews will be calling on Bain Capital for significantly improved standards to correct poor rostering, under-staffing and lack of work-life balance.
TWU members were instrumental during the airline's administration, extracting commitments from Bain to ensure its long-term future as a strong second airline. Workers endured years of reduced pay and conditions while the airline was in crisis mode, but with profits only climbing and set to rise further with Virgin's Qatar Airways partnership, they are rightfully calling for standards to substantially lift.
Workers will also push for local opportunities as part of its partnership with Qatar Airways, and for the airline to pursue fair industry reform with the TWU, including support of the union's application to substantially increase standards through the Cabin Crew Award.
TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said:
"These results show that a model where workers are directly employed and properly consulted yields strong results. But across the board, pilots, cabin crew and ground crew are still struggling under poor rostering, under-staffing and lack of work-life balance.
"Workers at Virgin are at the point of pursuing part-time arrangements because it's so unsustainable to manage the full-time demands of their jobs. Meanwhile we saw Jayne Hrdlicka depart as CEO with an eye-watering $50 million pay-out, which workers are rightly outraged by. On top of these half-yearly results, Bain can and must make it clear it will fund decent standards for the workers who've made these results possible.
"As ground and cabin crew begin bargaining this year, with pilots shortly to follow, they'll be making it clear to Virgin and Bain that they deserve better. The time of emergency settings during the airline's existential crisis is over-it's time for standards to substantially lift at Virgin.
"Workers have pushed Bain to commitments like further insourcing of jobs, an employee share scheme, and consultation over the Qatar partnership. That model is not just the right thing to do for Virgin's loyal workforce - it is making huge profits for the airline.
"Bain's job now is clear: invest in the workforce that's made all of this possible, and support decent industry reform with us so that fair standards are the norm, not the exception."
