Virgin Australia workers have ramped up their campaign for better conditions as the company prepares to go public three years after entering voluntary administration. National Secretary of the Transport Workers Union, Michael Kaine, says employees want respect and fairness from the airline.
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TVTranscript
00:00 These workers behind me are just about to step into negotiations with Virgin, actually,
00:05 cabin crew and ground services.
00:07 And of course, they're representing workers that are exhausted and, quite frankly, angry.
00:12 They're feeling overworked and undervalued.
00:14 This is the same group of workers, to remind your viewers, that with Bain Capital, the
00:19 owners of Virgin, pulled this company out of administration.
00:22 And they did it on the back of sacrifice, sacrifice in wages, sacrifices in their conditions.
00:28 And then they had to extend that sacrifice, those emergency conditions, because of the
00:32 COVID crisis.
00:33 And now, quite rightly, there's a reasonable expectation that they'll be repaid for that,
00:38 that they'll be compensated for it, and that the emergency settings will be removed and
00:43 we can get back to good, solid jobs at Virgin.
00:45 And that's why, overnight, we've written to the owners of Virgin, Bain Capital and others,
00:51 and said to them that we want a commitment from you, a commitment from you to ensure
00:56 that there is respect in the workforce, which Virgin is renowned for, good, secure jobs,
01:00 that there's a reward in the form of a share scheme for these workers, that there's investment
01:05 in technology and plans, and most importantly, that there is reform in this industry.
01:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]