Hundreds of flight attendants at Australian flag carrier Qantas are set to receive big pay raises after the airline agreed to a settlement for its domestic cabin crew under the Labor government’s ‘Same Job, Same Pay’ laws.
The law, which was introduced late last year, allows Australia’s Fair Work Commission to order employers to pay new hire workers the same wages as veteran staffers who might have more generous pay and conditions under an enterprise agreement.
Qantas traditionally paid its domestic cabin crew quite generously and these pay and conditions are protected by an enterprise agreement. In recent years, however, Qantas hired cabin crew through various hire companies, thereby avoiding the need to include them in the enterprise agreement.
The effect of this hiring practice was to dramatically reduce staff costs and help save the airline money, although it also created a two-tier workforce with some flight attendants earning a lot less money for doing the same job as colleagues they were working alongside.
The case to make a ‘Same Job, Same Pay’ ruling was brought by the Flight Attendants Association of Australia, although after discussions with Qantas, the airline said it decided to back the FAAA’s application.
It’s believed that domestic cabin crew who were hired through third-party agencies will see wage increases of around 30%. Currently, the ‘Same Job, Same Pay’ wage increases will only apply to cabin crew who work on Qantas’ domestic fleet of Boeing 737s and Airbus A330s.
However, more applications have already been sent to the Fair Work Commission for cabin crew employed at Qantas’ low-cost subsidiary Jetstar and National Jet Systems which is a subsidiary operating regional flights branded as QantasLink.
In addition, Qantas said on Thursday that it had reached a principle agreement for around 2,500 long-haul cabin crew to receive wage increases in line with their domestic peers.
The principle, if approved by cabin crew, will vary the currently enterprise agreement, allowing flight attendants to operate Qantas’ ultra-long-haul ‘Project Sunrise’ flights which will connect Sydney with non-stop flights to London and New York.
Qantas estimates that the wage increases will leave a dent of AU $60 million in its balance sheet, which the airline has warned will be recooped with ticket price rises and unspecified ‘cost savings’.
In order to make ‘Project Sunrise’ a reality, the airline is expected to receive its first specially adapted Airbus A350 in mid-2026 with the first commercial slated to start several months later.
