News
Virgin Australia
Prime Minister must act now save 16,000 Virgin jobs
21 April 2020
The Australian Services Union today called on the Federal Government to urgently intervene to save 16,000 Virgin Airlines jobs as the company went into voluntary administration today. Assistant National Secretary Linda White said it was not too late to save Virgin Airlines, but this was the Prime Minister’s last opportunity.…
You will have heard this morning that Virgin Australia has gone into voluntary administration. We know that you may be concerned about this announcement, but we want to assure you that your union is together with you throughout this process. It’s important to know that: You still have a job.…
When we updated you on JobKeeper payments and redundancies yesterday, we confirmed that Virgin Australia would be commencing JobKeeper payments from 30 March 2020 and re- crediting any annual leave or long service leave that team members have taken since 30 March 2020 as a result of being stood down.…
ASU update on Virgin Australia trading halt
14 April 2020
ASU members will have awoken to news this morning that Virgin Australia has taken the decision to halt trading and there is ongoing speculation about a federal government bail out of the airline. We know that the airline has been struggling for some time, so this is serious. The impact…
Today the ASU has met with team members from Workplace Relations to continue talks about the Voluntary Redundancy Expression Of Interest (the ‘VR EOI’) process under way with Guest Services ground crew. Clarity around timeframes and process The Company has confirmed further details, as follows: EOIs must be submitted by…
Things are moving very fast and changing daily. It is a stressful time for ASU members made worse by Virgin Australia’s confusing communications and unreliable clunky IT systems. After receiving confirmation from the Company yesterday, we wrote to you about expecting to receive Stand Down notices from Virgin Australia, as…
Urgent Update for ASU members at Virgin Australia
26 March 2020
The Virgin Australia Group announced Stand Downs yesterday for many other parts of the business. They have also announced that the International network is not going to continue flying the current schedule after we are through the COVID-19 outbreak. This means that some redundancies have also been announced. After consultation…
Virgin Australia is issuing stand downs to Ground Crew
26 March 2020
Virgin Australia is issuing Stand Down notices TODAY for all employees covered by the Virgin Australia Ground Crew Agreement 2018 (‘the EBA’). They have also commenced an Expression Of Interest (‘an EOI) process for opting into allocations for remaining work to run the reduced flight schedule, as well as voluntary…
We know you’re hurting and are in shock this morning The situation for Virgin Australia has changed rapidly. The Company will keep flying through the COVID-19 outbreak but it will be a very, very limited service. But we want to make sure that you know we will be by your…
In our last Bulletin we confirmed that the Company notified the ASU about significant reductions in flight capacity of the airline – we also said that we were working through the detail of some proposals to mitigate the impact of those reductions to you. Announcements made by governments over the…
Virgin Australia must provide certainty to staff
18 March 2020
Given that the Company has notified staff about significant reductions in flight capacity of the airline – including a suspension of all international flying from 30 March and a 50% drop in domestic capacity until 14 June 2020 – there will be a lot to work through for you. The…
ASU drags management to the table to talk about COVID-19
17 March 2020
It is now clear that the COVID-19 outbreak will have a significant impact on the business, as well as the health and well-being of our community. As we have said in our earlier bulletins, the ASU have been seeking meetings with Virgin Australia to be updated and consulted about the…
ASU members have contacted us about advice from the Company sent this morning, to all Group employees. The ASU has not received any notification from the Company about stand-downs. Stand-downs are not available under your Enterprise Agreement (‘the EBA’). In general, the ASU does not endorse unpaid stand-downs as a…
Update on Virgin Australia and the Coronavirus
03 February 2020
ASU officials are urgently seeking information from Australian airlines regarding their response to the Coronavirus outbreak and the precautions being put in place for ground operations staff with direct passenger contact. Your safety and wellbeing is our highest priority ASU officials met with Virgin Australia Group (VAG) on the evening…