URGENT NEED TO EXTEND JOBKEEPER TO DNATA WORKERS

The Transport Workers Union Victoria and Tasmania is urgently calling on the Federal Government to extend the JobKeeper scheme to Dnata workers. This comes after an announcement from the Federal Government this morning which sees JobKeeper extended to over 500,000 Victorians.

Thousands of Dnata workers have again been left out of the JobKeeper scheme for the entirety of this pandemic due to their employer being a foreign-owned company. Dnata workers are Australian workers, all of whom pay taxes to the Australian Government – many of whom have been Australian taxpayers for over 20 years.

“The aviation industry is a workforce filled with individuals with specialised skills, Dnata workers are no different. If the Government does not urgently act to ensure that Dnata workers here in Victoria have access to JobKeeper, we know many of those workers will have to make the tough choice to leave the aviation industry.” John Berger, the TWU Victoria & Tasmania Secretary stated.

“Right now, Dnata workers are being forced to live below the poverty line. They have been stood down from their jobs in the aviation industry for almost 5 months; that is 5 months without a single penny from their employer going into their bank accounts.” Berger added.

“Not only do Dnata workers deserve Government support during this pandemic, but they also deserve the dignity which comes with it. We are calling on the Federal Government to ensure that Dnata workers are included in the extension of JobKeeper in Victoria.” Berger added.

TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said the decision yet again to shut out Dnata workers from Jobkeeper is another example of the Federal Government’s abandoning of the aviation industry.

“Qantas and Virgin have announced mass redundancies and Dnata workers are left clinging on without a lifeline. The Federal Government has no plan for aviation and does not seem to care that thousands of jobs and skills are at stake. When the economy does try to bounce back we will hold the Government to account if the aviation industry is not in a fit state to play its part in the national recovery,” he said.

(TWU VIC/TAS Branch Media Release)