TWU STATEMENT ON VIRGIN CEO

Comments attributable to Michael Kaine, TWU National Secretary:

“This afternoon’s announcement that Paul Jones will not be the future CEO of Virgin will bring a collective sigh of relief from Virgin workers.  It is disturbing in the extreme that Bain Capital would even have contemplated appointing one of the key instigators of the illegal sackings of over 1800 workers at Qantas.

“The TWU and Virgin workers were instrumental in getting Virgin flying again after it lapsed into administration in 2020, left to languish by the Morrison government that refused to intervene.  Fresh from successfully negotiating a post-covid return to sustainable terms and conditions across ground, cabin crew and pilot workforces the last thing workers and the business needed was a new CEO whose only claim to fame was the largest case of illegal sackings in Australian history.

“We hope that this marks the end of Bain’s dalliance with a potential Joyce model of adversarial industrial relations.

“This episode once again proves why aviation urgently needs a Safe and Secure Skies Commission, an independent decision maker that can hold the industry to account and ensure that workers and the flying public are at the centre—and are not a second order issue to profiteering and executive bonuses.

“A recent survey of over aviation 2000 workers found that over 70% could not afford to remain in aviation because terms and conditions were too poor.”