Check your booking now – Jetstar releases list of dozens of flights it will cancel this week due to strike action
- Jetstar has released list of flights they were forced to cancel due to strike action
- Jetstar baggage handlers and ground staff are set to strike again on February 19
- Customers on cancelled flights were contacted and new arrangements made
- Transport Workers Union says strike is a result of pay and working conditions
Jetstar has released a list of flights it says it has been forced to cancel due to strike action being taken by baggage handlers and ground staff.
The Transport Workers Union has announced that baggage handlers and ground staff who work for the Qantas-owned airline would strike on Wednesday, February 19.
Over 250 workers will hold a 24-hour strike on Wednesday at Sydney, Melbourne, Avalon, Brisbane, Cairns and Adelaide airports.
Jetstar has released list of flights they were forced to cancel due to strike action by baggage handlers and ground staff set for February 19 and have also contacted customers
‘To minimise the disruption caused by the TWU action, it has been necessary to proactively cancel some of our domestic flights in Australia,’ a Jetstar statement read.
‘If you are travelling on the 19 February please see the full list of cancellations.’
Jetstar released a list on Monday of 48 services it had been forced to cancel and has been contacting customers booked on those flights to offer alternative travel arrangements.
‘We have developed a contingency plan that protects our customers’ travel,’ a Jetstar spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Most customers on impacted flights (are) set to travel within a few hours of their original departure time and all customers getting to their destinations same day.
‘To achieve this we have consolidated some services and moved other customers to Qantas flights where necessary.’
Any customers travelling on February 19 can also request a full refund or a no-cost change to their travel date prior to flying.
The union said the the strike was called as members felt the airline was trying ‘to force workers to accept an agreement which is even worse than the current agreement they are on’.
In December, 94% of Jetstar workers voted to take protected industrial action but announced a moratorium to allow people to get home for Christmas and for the bushfire relief in January
A Jetstar spokesman told Daily Mail Australia they had contacted customers on the cancelled flights to organised alternative travel arrangements for them
TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said Jetstar workers were united and determined to fight for their jobs and their families’ futures.
‘Jetstar workers do not take this decision lightly and we apologise to members of the public who will be unable to fly on Wednesday,’ Mr Kaine said.
‘But these workers are in the fight of their lives for a decent standard of living, to be able to put food on the table and to ensure they and their kids have a future.
‘At the moment that future is bleak.’
The union claims Jetstar is trying to force underemployment on their staff.
‘Jetstar workers are utterly baffled as to why they can’t get a guarantee for 30 hours a week when they can see that the work is there,’ Mr Kaine said.
Jetstar workers went on strike twice in December and then announced a moratorium over Christmas and New Year and during the bushfires in January.
In December, 94% of Jetstar workers voted to take protected industrial action.
‘This is not a pay dispute. This is a battle against underemployment and a battle for decent jobs at the airport,’ Mr Kaine said.
‘Jetstar has broken off talks and is refusing to negotiate with its workforce.’
No international flights will be impacted by Wednesday’s strike.