• Qantas is in the federal court on Wednesday seeking clarification over how it has been paying workers.
• Various unions have gone to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) challenging Qantas’ interpretation of the JobKeeper rules, which can exclude stood down workers from receiving overtime payments they are owed.
• It comes amid rising tensions with the Transport Workers Union (TWU) which alleges Qantas has ‘ripped off’ workers and misused the scheme as it seeks to cut more jobs.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Tensions between Australia’s largest airline and the unions have exploded in the space of 24 hours.

On Wednesday, Qantas entered the federal court to square how it has been paying workers with its responsibilities tied to its receiving of $268 million in JobKeeper subsidies.

The Flight Attendants Association of Australia (FAAA) and Australian Services Union (ASU) have both challenged Qantas and Jetstar’s interpretation of the rules in front of the Fair Work Commission, with the Transport Workers Unions (TWU) alleging the airline owes employees “thousands of dollars”.

“Qantas has been ripping off its workers, refusing to pay them for their work when they spent time away from their families on public holidays and Sundays,” National Secretary Michael Kaine said in a statement issued to Business Insider Australia.

“They have deliberately manipulated Jobkeeper so they don’t have to pay workers a dollar more than the public subsidy. What they are doing is abusing the taxpayer scheme to line their own pockets.”

The unions claim the airline has avoided paying public holiday, weekend and overtime rates by exploiting the JobKeeper system.

Specifically, Qantas pays workers their overtime the fortnight after they work it. However, if a worker is stood down in that second pay cycle, workers only receive their $1,500 fortnightly JobKeeper payment, without receiving their overtime pay.

The unions argue that by doing so Qantas is effectively getting away with not paying workers what they would normally be owed as it struggles to keep costs down.

Qantas meanwhile maintains this is simply in line with how it has paid workers for more than a decade and is within the spirit of the JobKeeper subsidy.

It comes just one day after the TWU called for Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to resign for seeking to outsource as many as 2,500 baggage handling and cleaning jobs.

“Alan Joyce and his team are now paying themselves millions again at the same time that they are denying their workers basic rights,” Kaine said.

With Joyce last year receiving $24 million in remuneration, there are other ways to cut costs the TWU suggests.

However, its dispute escalated further. On Tuesday afternoon the union sent a letter to Scott Morrison, urging the prime minister to pressure Qantas to back down from the latest round of 2,500 redundancies.

“We are asking you to demand that Qantas ends its plans to axe and outsource jobs. If it fails to do this, you should ask for the $515 million back in public money used to support the airline,” Kaine wrote.

Qantas has confirmed to Business Insider Australia it has received around $267 million in subsidies.

“The remainder of the $515 million went to run flights on behalf of government, including more than 100 international services to assist with repatriation as well as domestic flights to maintain key transport links – services that would not otherwise have been commercially viable,” Qantas senior manager of corporate communications Stephen Moynihan said.

“The net benefit to Qantas from government support was $15 million.”

Qantas argues that the TWU’s demands aren’t consistent with its long-term lobbying of the government to provide more support for the aviation sector, not less.

Either way, it’s a fight that has now risen to the courtroom.

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