On 25 May 2010 ASU officials and delegates from Qantas Holidays and Jetset Travelworld met with various management representatives from Qantas Airways and Jetset Travel Group including Sue Bussell from Qantas Industrial Relations and Andrea Slarke, Chief Development Officer of Jetset Travelworld to discuss the recent announcement about the merger with the Stella Group.

ASU Reps were:

Linda White - ASU National Office
Ingrid Stitt - ASU Vic Branch
Clare Raffan - ASU NSW Branch
Jaclyn Rush - Melbourne
Rita Kakos - Melbourne
Meena Rai - Sydney
Deborah Deck - Perth
Michael Collins - Sydney

On our agenda were staff concerns about staff travel, superannuation, access to employment in the Qantas Group and the negotiation of the new EBA.

Here is where we are at in relation to these key issues.

Staff Travel

Despite promising that Qantas staff travel would be ongoing when the Qantas Holidays business was sold to Jetset Travelworld, Qantas now say this valuable benefit will only continue for 3 years from the date of the merger, so to about September 2013.Your reps argued this was unfair and a significant diminution in benefits to staff. The Qantas rep was unmoved.

There is nothing legally to prevent Qantas from continuing staff travel indefinitely - they are just choosing not to do this because they think that they can. Qantas is choosing to suit their interests, not those of longstanding loyal staff who helped build the Qantas Holidays business.

We need to change the minds of Qantas executives so that they understand that taking away this key benefit is not an option. Qantas management need to know staff are angry about the removal of this valuable benefit. We will be shortly holding meetings of members at Qantas Holidays to discuss what we need to do. We do not underestimate the task ahead on this issue but it is important and we need to work together on strategies to reverse this decision.

Superannuation

Despite promising Qantas Holidays staff that they could remain in the Qantas Superannuation Fund on transferring to the Jetset Travelworld Group, now Qantas says that is no longer possible because the new company will not be majority owned by Qantas.

A Qantas executive from the Remuneration and Benefits section attended our meeting and said that because the Qantas Fund is not a public offer fund (i.e. not open to anyone other than Qantas companies) Qantas Holidays staff could not remain in the fund. He said the Qantas Super trustees will be looking to find another Super fund which can replicate as closely as possible the benefits of the Qantas Fund and then employees' Super will be transferred there. This would occur in about 9 months - no work on this had commenced.

Qantas management say that employees who are in the defined benefit scheme at Qantas who want this to continue will have to transfer to the Super Fund selected by the Trustees.

The ASU is going to check out what options staff have with our lawyers and report back. It doesn't seem fair that staff can have no say in where the super is transferred. We will also see what, if any, options there could be to stay with the Qantas Super scheme. Super law is very complex so it is important to get reputable advice.

Access to employment in Qantas Group

As we know under the original sale the access to employment in the Qantas Group was for 3 years from the sale, which is to 24 July 2011. This continues. Many staff have expressed concern about the limited access to jobs they have had. We raised this with Qantas and they say that they will send us correspondence on how the process can be improved.Qantas says there is no block on Qantas Holidays staff getting jobs in Qantas.

We noted in our meeting that the FAQs produced for Holidays Staff on this issue were very unclear about what happens to staff if they apply for jobs either with Qantas or the JTG, and whether they keep their conditions or not. Andrea Slarke says, for instance, that if Qantas Holidays staff get jobs in QBT they have to resign from Qantas Holidays and be employed on much less wages and conditions in a company called JTG Services Pty Ltd, not in Qantas Airways like a range of other staff. This is very unfair - we asked for this to change. JTG reps said it would not! Again to change this policy we have to unite and fight about this issue.

And now the EBA...

As reported in the Qantas EBA 9 bulletins, negotiations with Qantas have started for the new EBA 9. As part of our negotiations we have said that Qantas Holidays should still be part of the Qantas Group EBA. Qantas and JTG management oppose this position.  They opposed this even before the merger was announced.

The new Fair Work Act allows the ASU to go to Fair Work Australia to get a scope order to argue why Qantas Holidays should be included in the EBA 9. There are a range of things we have to do before we commence these proceedings, not the least of which is continue to press both Qantas and Jetset Travelworld Group on the issue.

Qantas Holidays / Jetset Travelworld have also advised the ASU that there are a number of employee bargaining reps within Qantas Holidays.  The ASU has requested the details of employee bargaining reps so that we can consult them about our claims for bargaining and the issues around the scope of the EBA.  Qantas Holidays have so far refused to tell the ASU who these bargaining reps are.

The Fair Work Act requires all parties to bargain in 'good faith'.  The ASU takes its obligations under the Fair Work Act very seriously including the requirement on all parties to bargain with other representatives and participate in meetings.  We therefore invite employee bargaining reps to meet with the ASU to discuss EBA related matters.  Employee bargaining reps are invited to contact their ASU Organiser in their state to facilitate these discussions. It is in everyone's interests to work together on the significant challenges currently facing the Qantas Holidays workforce.

Qantas Holidays / Jetset Travelworld have asked to meet the ASU representatives for the EBA separately on 2 June 2010.

Your delegates believe we should meet the company to again press why we want to be in the Qantas EBA 9.  That is what we are going to do.  We will hold report back meetings of ASU members after this meeting.

The ASU reps are also going to meet about the Jetset Travelworld Ltd and National Cruise Centre EBAs - we will report back after this meeting.

For more information check out the ASU national office website www.asu.asn.au