It’s the giving season but not everyone is in the giving mood.
Qantas Airways has come under fire this week for a leaked memo detailing the carrier’s trialing of a new unpaid volunteer program during the busy holiday travel period.
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“To support our airport teams at Sydney International Terminal over the 2018 peak Christmas travel period, we’re trialing a new volunteer program for our Campus-based people who’d like to lend a hand to the front line in December and January,” the notice states via the Sydney Morning Herald.
“We require volunteers to assist at the self-service check-ins and auto bag drop area, bussing gates, concourse arrivals hall and at the transfer desk. The roles allocated to volunteers will depend on their preferences, skillset and security requirements.”
According to the Herald, volunteers are being asked to work shifts of four hours and are only paid if those shifts fall within their normal scheduled working hours.
Social media users quickly decried the initiative, shaming the airline on Twitter and elsewhere for seeking volunteers rather than paying employees overtime for their efforts.
Qantas is asking staff to work for free this Christmas.
It’s outrageous. It’s illegal. It’s wage theft.
If Qantas get away with this, every boss will want to do the same next year.#JoinYourUnion #PayUpQantas pic.twitter.com/BIXSIrdSLm
— Tom Patton (@tmhpatton) December 7, 2018
“The shift will be voluntary and unpaid” pic.twitter.com/CXzdIsOAjN
— Tom Patton (@tmhpatton) December 7, 2018
Australian Services Union NSW branch secretary Natalie Lang called the program “wage theft” and “the classic Grinch tale.”
However, a spokesman for Qantas told the Herald that the program “is not about cutting costs” but rather “about spreading a bit of Christmas cheer during a really busy period.”
“We always scale up with additional paid staff over the peak holiday period. And we also ask head office employees if they’d like to lend a hand, which is a mix of their own time and company time,” he added. “The tasks volunteers are expected to carry out include handing out bottles of water and Christmas chocolates to passengers and helping people find their way around the terminal.”
“It’s typically our executives who volunteer, particularly because it’s a chance for them to spend more time on the frontline.”
Nonetheless, Qantas hasn’t received much support for the holiday initiative and is unlikely to find any anytime soon.
“It’s a shocking display of corporate greed from a company with record profit that paid its CEO $25 million last year,” the Australian Services Union tweeted.
This Christmas @Qantas is asking workers to volunteer to work for free.
It’s a shocking display of corporate greed from a company with record profit that paid its CEO $25 million last year.#changetherules pic.twitter.com/XzdIv6HPNX
— Australian Services Union (@asu_nsw_act) December 7, 2018
“It’s offensive to pretend this is about executives walking down to help the front line. If [Qantas CEO] Alan Joyce wants to help, he can go ahead. He doesn’t need a program to do that,” added Lang via the Herald.
