THE SILENT REVIEW_WINTER EDITION 2021_WEB

THE IMPORTANCE OF
BEING A FAAA MEMBER
By Steven Reed - Industrial Officer
When I was asked to write a small article to outline the successes of the union
over the years, my first thought was how do you condense decades of specialised
Cabin Crew representation into a small article. Having said that, let’s firstly list a
few things that the wider union movement achieved for workers in Australia.
Annual leave, Long service Leave, Penalty rates, maternity
leave, Superannuation, Equal pay for women, Health
and Safety and Workers’ Compensation, Sick leave,
Redundancy payments, meal breaks and rest breaks,
collective bargaining and unfair dismissal protection.
Can you imagine your job as a flight attendant without
these conditions that we take for granted? You would have
none of these provisions without the work of the union
movement and yet that almost seems impossible to believe
but it’s true.
Let’s just spend a few moments thinking about the job of
Cabin crew and what our small union has achieved for us
over the decades we have existed.
Promotion for Women – did you know that it was the
union that made it possible in Qantas for women to be
promoted? Until the 1980’s it was the exclusive purview
of male cabin crew and Qantas continued to discriminate
against women even after the laws changed until the
Union took the matter to court. Hard to believe but that’s
the fact of the matter
Outrageous treatment of Women
Women had to leave if they decided to get married –
how would you feel if your employer said you cannot be
married and a flight attendant? Well Qantas used to do
that, they also used to weigh you at sign on if you were a
female and if you had put on a few pounds you were stood
down until you lost the weight?
Women couldn’t get the job of a flight attendant if married
and had to leave if they wanted to marry. Can you believe
that marriages were kept “quiet”, so you didn’t lose your job?
Women were required to retire at age 35 as that was their
use by date according to Qantas. Can you believe that?
The union movement even now is fighting for appropriate
payment and conditions around transfer to safe job when
pregnant and your Doctor suggests that you give up flying
for medical reasons.
Staff Travel
Single employees could not have anyone other than a
family member on their staff travel. The FAAA was the first
union to press for Buddy travel against a lot of opposition.
We were the Union that achieved the ability to change that
nominated beneficiary every two years and subsequently
every 6 months. We still believe that this can be improved
on, but who will do it if the FAAA doesn’t?
Home Transport provisions
Nobody could possibly understand how it feels when you
get off a Long Range Flight and feel like you have been
hit by a bus. Would you feel safe to drive home? It was
the FAAA that fought for proper transport provisions and
negotiated boundaries. These were further improved in
EBA10. Can you imagine how unsafe it would be without
home transport?
Horizontal Crew Rest
Did you know that Cabin crew had to go on strike in
1981 to get horizontal crew rest? The Company even now
wants to use A330 aircraft on Long Range Flights and we
are fighting for proper crew rest. If the FAAA doesn’t fight
who will?
Crew Rest seats
Did you know that crew rest seats had to be fought for
as part of an agreement? Prior to the FAAA getting crew
rest seats you might have been allowed to sit in a spare
passenger seat or a jump seat but you were not allowed
to close your eyes? Sounds like a fairy tale? It’s not,
20 WINTER EDITION 2021