Virgin Australia cabin crew will soon vote on taking industrial action, as their pay and conditions still have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, despite seeing the airline deliver record profits, and its owners Bain Capital extract $2.7 billion, following the private equity firm’s 2020 purchase.
Along with Bain recouping nearly 4 times over on its $730 million purchase, Virgin Australia also handed an eye-watering $50 million to former CEO Jayne Hrdlicka when she departed the airline in 2025 and posted a record $501 million in profit for the last financial year, after its IPO. As these Virgin employees took cuts to their pay and conditions during COVID to keep the airline running, they are now calling on Bain to reinvest the profits back into the workforce who helped deliver them.
Cabin crew workers are also calling for a reset to their conditions, including fairer rostering arrangements to reduce duty limits pushing them to exhaustion, meaningful progression through pay classifications, and better fatigue protections including increased minimum rest time.
The company continues to refuse to commit to fair rostering arrangements to reduce increasingly fatiguing duties, which have reached crisis levels among crew.
The TWU commends the Federal Government for listening to calls for a long-term solution to repair Australia’s aviation sector, with the historic decision to commit to an Aviation Industry Coordination Council. Reforming aviation will take significant time, and the industry now needs confidence Parliament is committed to rebalancing aviation, so it serves both workers and the travelling public.
The TWU and the ASU have also lodged for a Protected Action Ballot in Virgin Guest Services, where workers are similarly calling for the airline to deliver fairer rostering practices and protections for their existing conditions.
The vote comes as hundreds of Qantas ground workers prepare to take further strike action at airports across the country on Wednesday, over the airline’s continued Joyce-era tactics to drive down pay and conditions.
TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said:
“Virgin cabin crew took cuts to their pay and conditions during COVID to get airline through administration, but they are still operating under crisis conditions that have seen them regularly pushed to exhaustion.
“Now the airline is making bumper profits, Bain is siphoning billions to put in executives’ pockets, and CEOs are walking out the door with $50 million pay cheques. Clearly Bain can also afford to deliver for these workers, who gave up so much to keep the lights on.
“This airline has already proven that when you engage with your workforce, it yields impressive results. Its employee share scheme and successful insourcing show that Virgin can grow a profitable airline while investing in its workers, but there is substantial work to do here to ensure cabin crew can continue to do their vital work. It is time Bain reinvested its record profits back into the workforce that has made them possible, instead of using Virgin as a personal piggy bank.
“We need a fundamental reset in aviation so that safe, secure jobs are the norm, not the exception but this will not happen overnight. The Government’s commitment to an Aviation Industry Coordination Council is welcome news, and legislation is crucial to ensure the Council is robust enough to rebalance the scales in this industry.”
