Virgin airline employees may go on strike if their bosses fail to to come back to the negotiating desk to raise circumstances as they declare staff cannot afford Christmas presents.
A survey of Australian Services Union members on the main provider confirmed practically one in two had been struggling to purchase Christmas presents this 12 months.
One in 9 had been behind on lease or mortgage funds, one in 5 had been skipping meals to economize and 4 in 5 had been delaying physician’s visits.
The union’s assistant nationwide secretary, Emeline Gaske, stated the state of affairs for members was “pretty dire” after they made sacrifices for the corporate throughout its monetary woes in 2019.
“Workers bent over backwards to keep costs down and accepted an effective pay cut,” Ms Gaske stated.
“Now we’re on the other side of the crisis and the airline is refusing to discuss any kind of pay rise.”
Workers had been paid one-off bonuses in July and December because the airline negotiates with the union.
“We understand the challenges faced by our people due to the current economic conditions,” a Virgin spokeswoman stated.
Ms Gaske needs a “fair deal and a fair pay rise” out of Virgin for employees.
“It’s the right thing to do, but it is also the only way the company will retain its best people and not end up in the race to (the) bottom for staff,” Ms Gaske stated.
The Virgin spokeswoman stated the provider had been negotiating a enterprise settlement with the union for a number of months.
“Throughout this time, there have been constructive discussions on the terms of a new enterprise agreement,” she stated.
“We intend to work to finalise this agreement as quickly as possible.”
In November, Qantas employees voted for a possible strike motion over the Christmas vacation interval.
Air journey in Australia’s was impacted this week as a result of wild climate in Melbourne, delaying journey for hundreds of vacation makers.
