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Katie Woolf spoke with Transport Workers Union SA NT Secretary Ian Smith · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: We have learned a little earlier this morning that Quantas
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: have announced around two and a half thousand workers will
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  Speaker 1: be stood down from mid August. It is in response
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  Speaker 1: to the extended Sydney COVID nineteen lockdown. Now, the airline
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  Speaker 1: has said that both Quantas and Jet Stars frontline employees
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  Speaker 1: would be affected and have to rely on government support
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  Speaker 1: payments once they're stood down. We do know that the
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  Speaker 1: federal government yesterday announced that airlines would be able to
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  Speaker 1: claim seven hundred and fifty dollars a week for up
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  Speaker 1: to half of their aircrew workforce, on the condition that
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  Speaker 1: none were retrenched. Now joining me on the line is
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  Speaker 1: the Transport Workers Union Branch Secretary for South Australia and
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory, Ian Smith. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you going?
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  Speaker 1: Not too bad?
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  Speaker 2: Ian?
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  Speaker 1: Pretty devastating news, I would think for those workers from
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  Speaker 1: both Quantus and Jetstar. What are you hearing from those
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  Speaker 1: workers this morning?
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  Speaker 2: Well, what I'm going to say is this is another
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  Speaker 2: failure of the federal government. Has come up with a
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  Speaker 2: planet so that protects all aviation workers. Yes, from my
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  Speaker 2: understanding is it'll protect pilots and cabin crew I get that,
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  Speaker 2: and I think that's fantastic, But what about security screeners,
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  Speaker 2: all the ground staff, everybody there that we need. It's
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  Speaker 2: a skilled workforce that needs to be there, and they
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  Speaker 2: need compensation.
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  Speaker 1: Rejoices are you saying this morning, Ian? Are you what
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  Speaker 1: you're telling us is that it's only the pilots and
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  Speaker 1: those staff that are obviously on the planes. It's not
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  Speaker 1: actually the ground staff that are going to get that
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  Speaker 1: seven hundred and fifty a week.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, that's our understanding. So the ground staff that that
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  Speaker 2: those outsourced get nothing, the security screeners that run a
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  Speaker 2: vital part of the airport get nothing, and anybody else
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  Speaker 2: working in the airport gets nothing. It's a disgrace once again,
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  Speaker 2: half baked decisions by a government that has no idea
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  Speaker 2: what happens on the ground and listens to the likes
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  Speaker 2: of CEOs that only care about themselves and not about
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  Speaker 2: not about the aviation industry as a whole.
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  Speaker 1: And how many in the North do you anticipate that
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  Speaker 1: any Northern Territory workers with Jetstar and Quantus are going
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  Speaker 1: to be impacted by this standown?
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  Speaker 2: Ah well, if they're based in the Northern Territory and
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  Speaker 2: Darlan absolutely, but pilots are living in Darwen, they'll be affected.
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  Speaker 2: There would be seventy there one hundred fscurity screeners. There
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  Speaker 2: were sixty five baggage channelers and queeners before they outsourced it.
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  Speaker 2: That will be affected. The whole airport, the shop, the
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  Speaker 2: people working in the shops, anybody connected with airport because
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  Speaker 2: there's going to be less movements because of this poor
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  Speaker 2: white this terrible virus. They need they need to support.
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  Speaker 2: You can't just limit it to a few. Now. It's
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  Speaker 2: great that the few have got it, but the bottom
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  Speaker 2: line is there is a lot more workers out there
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  Speaker 2: that are going to be left with no income. They're
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  Speaker 2: going to have to try and survive because the lack
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  Speaker 2: of work so ian.
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  Speaker 1: It sounds as though the Transport Workers Union is realistically
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  Speaker 1: calling on the federal government to support the whole aviation
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  Speaker 1: industry impacted here and not just those staff that are in.
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  Speaker 2: The air Absolutely go listen to the likes of Alan Joyce,
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  Speaker 2: Listen to the whole industry and support the whole industry
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  Speaker 2: and make sure that these skilled people that carry out
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  Speaker 2: available service for every Australian and anybody coming into the country.
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  Speaker 2: I looked after and we make sure that when we
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  Speaker 2: get back to a normal you know, when the industry
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  Speaker 2: mansuf agaid these stuff all they're waiting to come back,
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  Speaker 2: get into the industry and carry on doing a fantastic
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  Speaker 2: job they've been doing let alone, you know, let alone
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  Speaker 2: hoping that they're going to be there. Because they won't be,
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  Speaker 2: they'll go with other industries because they have to survive.
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  Speaker 1: Ian with the two and half thousand frontline workers, do
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  Speaker 1: we have any specific numbers when it comes to the
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  Speaker 1: northern territory, Well.
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  Speaker 2: If we go back to the well, and let's just
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  Speaker 2: rastic is if we go back to the outsourcing upon us,
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  Speaker 2: did that affected around sixty five workers just ground handlers?
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  Speaker 2: I would imagine there's about sixty security screen is employed.
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  Speaker 2: But add a guess and then if you go for
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  Speaker 2: everybody else that where there, it did't be anything up
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  Speaker 2: in just the DAR one set up one hundred workers.
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  Speaker 2: So if you put that across the territory, it's because
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  Speaker 2: significant and these are people that are very small percentage
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  Speaker 2: of them will be getting some support.
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  Speaker 1: And so I mean, are you anticipating though that all
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  Speaker 1: of those workers are going to be stood down?
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  Speaker 2: Well, then we have a big majority of them because
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  Speaker 2: of the fact that there'll be there's still some flights
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  Speaker 2: in and out of Australia, but it's minimized because the
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  Speaker 2: major market Sydney as in lockdown. We've got Brisbane in
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  Speaker 2: law down, so so the movement of people is going
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  Speaker 2: to be limited again. So that has an impact across
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  Speaker 2: the bord, on tourism, on just on everything. So you
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  Speaker 2: know it is just more than one sector and some
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  Speaker 2: pilots and some cabin crew that are affected by this,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Ian Barnaby, Joyce and Morris and need to
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  Speaker 2: do the right things and support everybody in the aviation
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  Speaker 2: we do.
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  Speaker 1: We know how long this is going to last. I
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  Speaker 1: guess it's you know, how long is a piece of string.
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  Speaker 1: We don't know how long the COVID lockdowns in Sydney
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  Speaker 1: going to last. But what is quantas telling their staff
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  Speaker 1: at the moment, well that.
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  Speaker 2: That they're going to be eligible for this payment rather
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  Speaker 2: period of lockdown. And I think there's some some mandatory
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  Speaker 2: things that are attached to it that those jobs have
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  Speaker 2: to be there at the end of it. So it's
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  Speaker 2: about maintaining the employment relationships. So you know, those people
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  Speaker 2: are lucky enough to us are they're going to have
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  Speaker 2: jobs at the end of it, obviously, but those that can't, well,
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  Speaker 2: if they're going to be there in the end of
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  Speaker 2: who don't you know. If the way aviation is going,
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  Speaker 2: it's not a secure employment, so people are going to
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  Speaker 2: look else.
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  Speaker 1: I mean you touched on the fact, and we spoke
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  Speaker 1: about this a bit earlier this morning. We had the
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  Speaker 1: Minister for Tourism and also Health on the show and
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  Speaker 1: did discuss the impact that this kind of thing and
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  Speaker 1: these lockdowns have on the Northern Territory even though we
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  Speaker 1: are not in lockdown. And then when you look at
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  Speaker 1: those minimized flights, I mean quantas say that they're operating
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  Speaker 1: at less than forty percent of domestic flight capacity, mainly
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  Speaker 1: due to that Sydney lockdown and closed borders to New
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  Speaker 1: South Wales. It is a tough situation that we're in
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  Speaker 1: right around Australia today. What do you think about these
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  Speaker 1: calls by Anthony Albinezi to offer a three hundred dollars
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  Speaker 1: incentive for people to go out and get the vaccine
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  Speaker 1: so that we can open up sooner.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I have don't have a chance to
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  Speaker 2: look at any grad DT anything that's going to support
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  Speaker 2: getting us back to normal sort of life, So we
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  Speaker 2: would support and if that's what if there's if there's
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  Speaker 2: a process that we can make sure that people get
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  Speaker 2: the vaccine and get vaccinated and there's a reward for having it,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think that's a bad thing.
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  Speaker 1: Ian Smith from the Transport Workers Union s A and
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  Speaker 1: NT branch always appreciate your time. Thanks for having a
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  Speaker 1: chat with us and letting us know a bit more
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  Speaker 1: about how this standown is going to impact the territory.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Eddie, thank you