Qantas Airlines is being urged to secure the future of more than 700 former Impulse workers after 200 of their colleagues were sacked without notice yesterday.
Impulse had treated its staff like second-class citizens under non-union individual contracts and Qantas should put a stop to the mistreatment, the ACTU said today.
“The Impulse staff who have not already been sacked have no job security and lower pay because Impulse waged a war against unions to impose individual contracts,” ACTU Secretary Greg Combet said today.
“Qantas should offer these people some security and make sure no more former Impulse workers are treated like second-class citizens,” Mr Combet said.
The 200 sacked workers were missing out on union redundancy and other benefits, while other Impulse staff now working with Qantas were being paid less under individual contracts.
“Impulse promised these workers the world to get them to sign away their employment rights in non-union contracts, then it sacked them without notice,” Mr Combet said.
“This is what happens when people don’t get together to protect themselves – they have no security and get only the bare minimum required by law.
“We’re very worried about the other former Impulse workers who are now with Qantas. We urge Qantas to give them some security and offer them the same terms and conditions as its other employees who are doing the same job,” Mr Combet said.
Impulse and Qantas said no jobs would be lost when they announced their merger arrangement earlier this month.
