Flight attendants celebrate 28 per cent pay rise

Regardless of when the orders are made, companies including Qantas Domestic have committed to pay labour hire workers at least the minimum amount as directly employed cabin crew – amounting to pay rises of up to 28 per cent with back payments from the first full pay period after 1 November. [...] The laws closed the ‘labour hire loophole’ which allowed airlines like Qantas to split their cabin crew workforce across multiple corporate entities and labour hire contractors to avoid paying the higher wages and better conditions of enterprise bargaining agreements. [...] The Same Job Same Pay laws were introduced in response to the industrial relations practices of employers like former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, who exploited the labour hire loophole to cut workers’ wages. [...] In an address to the Institute of Public Affairs in July 2023, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton praised Joyce for his economic views: “Full credit to Alan Joyce for engaging in discussions around industrial relations and he’s been very forthright in his views on industrial relations.” The Coalition voted against the Same Job Same Pay laws and have refused to rule out a pay cut for impacted workers i. [...] Closing the wage-cutting loopholes of companies like Qantas incentivised them to come to the negotiating table and offer a better deal for workers.