But Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the extension until March meant he could keep on 15,000 employees who have been temporarily stood down. Essentially, it was a question about what constitutes a ‘JobKeeper fortnight’ for payment purposes under the relevant rules. Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to personally intervene over a “misuse of taxpayers’ money” in relation to Qantas’s JobKeeper wage subsidies. The Dispute. The new round of job shedding is on top of 6,000 direct job cuts announced by Qantas in June. The TWU continues to call for CEO Alan Joyce’s resignation and has requested the federal government force Qantas to return taxpayer money. That ‘safety net’ assurance is a central part of the government’s JobKeeper policy. Qantas and Jetstar workers have been missing out on these entitlements, as penalty rates and shift loadings have been shunted into payment periods of stand-down, meaning they are absorbed into the JobKeeper payment rather than being paid on top. Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) president Michele O’Neil pleaded with the Liberal-National government to “act immediately to put in place an aviation industry support plan.”. On Wednesday, Qantas entered the federal court to square how it has been paying workers with its responsibilities tied to its receiving of $268 million in JobKeeper subsidies. Qantas argued that the FWC could not deal with the dispute because, among other things: the dispute was not a dispute about the operation of Part 6-4C of FW Act; and the claim was an underpayment claim which, according to the FWC’s JobKeeper benchbook, was not within its … Qantas domestic CEO Andrew David said he realised the decision to outsource ground operations “would be tough” for the affected workers, many of whom were among the 15,000 Qantas workers stood down in April without pay or on enforced leave. “Qantas has based all of its decisions on JobKeeper on the legislation and guidance provided by the ATO and made sure all employees receive a ‘safety net’ payment of $1500 per fortnight. Various unions have gone to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) challenging Qantas’ interpretation of the JobKeeper rules, which can exclude stood down workers from receiving overtime payments they are owed. The TWU has said Qantas’ bidding process for its ground handling contract was a sham, after it picked Swissport’s proposal ahead of its own in-house rival.. Mazzitelli v Qantas [2020] FWC 2685 involved a dispute about whether Qantas JobKeeper payments had complied with the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Rules 2020 (Rules). Qantas understandably welcomed the decision to uphold its appeal. You can find a link to this decision here. Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) has announced the outsourcing of 2,000 ground staff jobs at ten airports across Australia in a move to cut costs as it faces a financial hit from the global COVID-19 pandemic.. Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. For all this feigned sympathy, workers’ lives are being ripped apart to maintain shareholder values and fund exorbitant executive remuneration packages. FWC can rule on a JobKeeper dispute; Finally, Qantas had a loss this week (on the heels of its two wins). Here's what it was like. The assault on the Qantas workforce was spearheaded by the grounding of the airline’s entire fleet in 2011, under the last Labor government, during a work contract dispute to impose an agreement slashing jobs and conditions. The Australian Taxation Office has 19 active criminal investigations into fraud against the $101 billion JobKeeper scheme. CEPU v Qantas [2020] FCA 656. Qantas announced this month it was outsourcing over 2,000 baggage, ramp and cleaning workers, rejecting the competitive bid submitted which found millions of dollars in savings. A baggage handler earns $1,500 in wages and $1,500 in overtime in one fortnight before being stood down in the next one. The assault on the Qantas workforce was spearheaded by the grounding of the airline’s entire fleet in 2011, under the last Labor government, during a work contract dispute … Qantas has received over $800 million taxpayers’ funding, including from Jobkeeper and other financial assistance. Some 4,000 of these jobs will be axed before the end of this month. Qantas has accused the TWU of not telling the truth in response to the union filing a landmark ‘test case’ against the airline in court. The Transport Workers’ Union is today lodging an urgent dispute in the Fair Work Commission over Qantas’ intent to rush through a redundancy process starting just two days before Christmas. It’s simply the latest war of words between the unions and the airline, both of whom have been locked in a tense struggle over not only this pay dispute but also Qantas’ plan to cut 2,500 ground staff jobs. The dispute between the airline and unions was around wages paid in arrears. Qantas had been counting arrears payments towards the JobKeeper payment, whereas unions argued staff should be receiving both the wage owed and the government subsidy. Relevant JobKeeper provision . In yet another major destruction of its workers’ jobs, Australia’s former government-owned airline Qantas announced last week that it will outsource ground crew work, including baggage handling, aircraft cleaning and bus services, at airports across the country at the cost of 2,500 permanent jobs. Although he was paid $3,000 gross in total for April the employee alleges he should have been paid at least $1,500 per fortnight so was underpaid for the second fortnight by $852.30. The Dispute. This resulted in a loss of workers’ conditions including a superannuation benefits scheme. Dubbed the "Qantas JobKeeper Case" this case is of particular relevance to employers who pay employees for overtime in arrears. The Commission cannot generally assist with underpayment claims and this would include payments under the JobKeeper scheme, however, a matter has already been appealed to a Full Bench in which Qantas is challenging whether the FWC has jurisdiction to deal with an employee’s dispute … Qantas corporate self interest. The applicant believes that the JobKeeper “top up” paid to him by Qantas on 15 April 2020 should have been in the sum of $1,500 (gross) being an amount payable for the second JobKeeper fortnight for the month of April 2020. Workers at 10 airports including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, Cairns, Townsville, Alice Springs and Canberra will lose their jobs, which will now be outsourced mainly to Swissport which pays workers lower wages and conditions. Mathew Mazzitelli v Qantas Airways Limited [2020] On 5 May 2020, an application was lodged with the Commission to deal with a JobKeeper dispute under Part 6-4C of the Fair Work Act. Qantas argued that the FWC could not deal with the dispute because, among other things: the dispute was not a dispute about the operation of Part 6-4C of FW Act; and the claim was an underpayment claim which, according to the FWC's JobKeeper benchbook, was not within its jurisdiction. Mazzitelli v Qantas Airways Limited Background. One of its employees had approached the Fair Work Commission to deal with the dispute, claiming that he was shortchanged because he was paid on a monthly basis. FWC can rule on a JobKeeper dispute; Finally, Qantas had a loss this week (on the heels of its two wins). Moreover, when Joyce announced the 6,000 job cuts in June he admitted that the carrier had $5 billion in capital. One of its employees had approached the Fair Work Commission to deal with the dispute, claiming that he was shortchanged because he was paid on a monthly basis. The federal government is bailing out Qantas as it exploits the COVID-19 pandemic to try to impose a further brutal restructuring. That betrayal ensured the airline unions maintained their role as an industrial police force to contain workers’ opposition and retain their place at the negotiation table to broker further regressive work agreements. Qantas argued that determining the dispute was beyond the jurisdiction of the FWC, and the Federal Court agreed. In what I believe to be the first JobKeeper dispute dealt with by the Fair Work Commission, a Qantas employee has contested the right of Qantas to calculate the JobKeeper subsidy (which it called a “top-up”) payable to an employee stood down in April in any other manner than as tranches of fortnightly entitlements, even though the employee was paid monthly. As the relevant employee was paid on a monthly basis, Qantas’s practice was to rely on the JobKeeper payment for the second fortnight of the employee’s monthly pay cycle to cover work that … JobKeeper test case: Qantas Airways Limited v Mathew Mazzitelli . Such an arrangement, however, reduced the pay of airport staff, baggage handlers and cabin crew, and has been heavily criticised by the unions. This application to deal with a dispute in relation to JobKeeper concerned what the applicant considered to be an incorrect application of the JobKeeper payment rules, and how they applied to monthly paid but stood down employees. “[Workers] have worked overtime, public holidays and weekends and Qantas management has deliberately manipulated JobKeeper so they don’t have to pay workers a dollar more than the public subsidy,” Kaine said. Qantas told Business Insider Australia that the airline is “carefully considering” whether it will appeal the judgement, and that “it is misleading of unions to suggest employees should expect a sudden windfall”. While Qantas maintains this squared with a long-held enterprise agreement, Justice Geoffrey Flick ruled on Thursday that it was inconsistent with way JobKeeper was to be administered. The Transport Workers Union (TWU) disputes that […] The Federal Court has found Qantas did not reasonably apply its JobKeeper subsidies and now owes back payment to hundreds of staff members who were engaged throughout the pandemic. Today’s judgement appears to cut across that principle,” a company spokesperson said. The Federal Court ruled against Qantas’ interpretation of the JobKeeper wage subsidy program on Thursday. ( AP: Rick Rycroft ) It's a parallel the TWU is only too keen to draw. Qantas loses bid to make use of jobkeeper subsidy to take in bigger portion of wages invoice | Enterprise. Qantas’s outsourcing of ground operations came after CEO Joyce claimed the airline had registered a net financial year after-tax loss of $1.9 billion. The jurisdictional issues concern whether the dispute is a JobKeeper dispute … It has taken that money and abused our systems, ripping workers off and planning to outsource workers whose jobs the airline admits are needed.”. Qantas JobKeeper case – How to properly calculate JobKeeper payments October 28, 2020 In a recent decision of Qantas Airways Limited v Flight Attendants’ Association of Australia (the JobKeeper Case ) the Federal Court of Australia considered and determined the correct application of the JobKeeper provisions contained in section 789GDA(2)(b) of the Fair Work Act 2009 . The airline says this is part of a drive to recover from the Covid-19 crisis. Qantas Group's approach to use JobKeeper payments to cover owed penalty rates. The company is gutting its 29,000-strong workforce as part of the drive to slash costs by $15 billion over three years and then $1 billion annually after 2023. Now Qantas, like airlines across the globe, is utilising the pandemic to bring forward even more ruthless cost-cutting measures that were in the pipeline well before COVID-19. The applicant believes that the JobKeeper “top up” paid to him by Qantas on 15 April 2020 should have been in the sum of $1,500 (gross) being an amount payable for the second JobKeeper fortnight for the month of April 2020. In a recent decision of Qantas Airways Limited v Flight Attendants’ Association of Australia (the JobKeeper Case) the Federal Court of Australia considered and determined the correct application of the JobKeeper provisions contained in section 789GDA(2)(b) of the Fair Work Act 2009.. Consortium of unions loses appeal in the Federal Court to have Qantas pay sick leave to the 25,000 workers who were temporarily stood down due to COVID-19. “These workers have endured systematic wage theft at the hands of an out of control management.”. In reality, the loss featured a $1.2 billion write-down of part of the company’s fleet, currently in storage. Qantas argued that the FWC could not deal with the dispute because, among other things: the dispute was not a dispute about the operation of Part 6-4C of FW Act; and the claim was an underpayment claim which, according to the FWC's JobKeeper benchbook, was not within its jurisdiction. Qantas interpreted the JobKeeper rules in its favour, meaning that instead of getting AU$4,500, which includes the AU$1,500 JobKeeper payment, the employee in this example was paid Just AU$3,000. 28th July: We're meeting Qantas to continue the push for a fair redundancy process. A stood down employee had notified the FWC of a dispute over the application of his JobKeeper payments. Mazzitelli v Qantas Airways Limited Background. The case concerns the application of the JobKeeper payment rules to an employee who was stood down under general stand down provisions in the Fair Work Act. Read the Jobkeeper disputes benchbook online Qantas is in the federal court on Wednesday seeking clarification over how it has been paying workers. For general information about JobKeeper disputes, including how to make an application, see our JobKeeper disputes page. Legal experts and unions have drawn parallels between Qantas outsourcing and the 1998 Waterfront Dispute. In this matter, the FWC was dealing with a dispute over a request by the employer, Village Roadshow, that a part time employee take one day per week of annual leave. And publicly explained how it has used taxpayer money JobKeeper, who are reeling... 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