More than 19,000 Qantas staff to receive a $5,000 cash bonus

Qantas has announced that 19,000 employees will be receiving a one-off $5,000 bonus.

The payment will not be eligible for senior management or executives and it will come on top of a two per cent pay rise previously promised to employees. 

The airline says that the payments will be made to staff after a new enterprise agreement is finalised.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce said the bonus ‘recognises the great work they are doing as we restart the airline’.

‘This comes at a time when travel demand is rebounding but our people are facing a unique set of cost-of-living pressures, which frankly they’d be in a better position to handle if aviation hadn’t been so badly hit over the past two years. That’s now changing,’ he said. 

‘We can’t afford to permanently increase salaries beyond the 2 per cent threshold we’ve set, but we can afford to make this one-off payment on top of the Qantas share rights we’ve already given.’ 

Disgruntled workers recently revealed to Daily Mail Australia what it’s really like to work for the Flying Kangaroo, levelling extraordinary allegations against the airline amid a bitter court battle that could result in a multi-million dollar payout.

The Transport Workers Union took Qantas to court in late 2020, when it was ruled the airline illegally sacked nearly 2,000 baggage handlers, cleaners and ground staff before outsourcing their jobs to foreign-owned providers, including Swissport.

The trickle-down effect has seen jaded customers, including Frequent Flyer members, saying they are looking to other airlines when flying.

The Trade Workers’ Union says Qantas’s issues start at the top, and point to Alan Joyce’s mismanagement of the airline over the pandemic and its thousands of laid-off staff.

‘The fish rots from the head. The short-term focus of senior management on boosting profits to see share price blips has devastated Qantas’ once trusted service and left Australians outraged,’ TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine told Daily Mail Australia.

The $5,000 payment will not be eligible for senior management or executives

‘Blaming passengers for delays over the Easter long-weekend while refusing to reinstate the highly trained workers it illegally sacked despite there being obvious demand for experienced workers in the industry shows how out-of-touch the Joyce-led management team has become.’

Many loyal Qantas customers have expressed their displeasure with the airline on social media, claiming it has moved away from its historically high standards – with one woman writing a brutal open letter to the ‘mean spirit of Australia’.

‘Maybe instead of spending money on glossy new ads filled with Aussie talent, you perhaps could do the bare minimum and answer the phone when your customers need assistance?’ Dr Sara Marzouk wrote.

‘Maybe you can invest in providing jobs onshore by establishing call-centres where the staff actually have a clue about what they can and cannot do?

‘Stop blaming this on COVID. These issues of poor customer service pre-dated the pandemic but have been exacerbated by them. No other airline has shown such contempt.

‘You need to do better.’

More to come.