"let's not do it, Let's not Fly Jetstar!"
Many of my friends have stalled in the recruitment process also, however a small percentage have been offered AWA contracts.
Jetstar want their crew to work 152 planned hours in 28 days, averaged over a 12 month period, and that is international flying! Also these hours can be extended.
Jetstar will have full flexibility of exploiting their staff.
You will be issued a roster, however Jetstar have full flexibility to change it and add a duty.
Some duties are planned over 16 hours long, with only 12 only hours rest! Sound feasible to you? Have you contemplated the crossing of multiple time zones and date lines?
For those of you that know the physical effects of international flying you will agree with me that these hours are excessive and inhumane.
There is nothing in these AWA contracts about accommodation or allowances. Small clauses state things like the company will roster annual leave at Jetstar’s absolute discretion, and Jetstar can terminate your AWA contract with 7 days notice. However these contracts are individual and yours may be more reasonable, or worse!
Think long and hard before accepting your offers, I predict your recruitment process will speed up as many experienced crew reject these outlandish contracts.
These conditions are disproportionate to any of the other Qantas group company’s contract, and that includes the Qantas Bangkok based Flight attendants, who work a maximum of 120 hours a month (240 per 56 day period)
The base pay is 32k, (27k till final line checks) plus the extra allowances that are ‘up to the companies discretion,’ the package of 41 - 46k includes annual bonus, super, language pay, (overtime as they can extend you to anything reasonable and by reasonable they mean within 12 hours rest) etc etc etc. I doubt you will enter into the 40k per year.
If you feel you have what it take to contend with the conditions of our 3rd world Asian neighboring countries, or voted for Howard you should accept the AWA. But remember you can negotiate for better conditions before you sign, but this would probably be a very short conversation, and they may ask you for another cheque, as that is how I understand their recruitment process to be. Unless Jetstar are prepared to accept crew below the bench mark set by Qantas you have nothing to lose, only your rights and dignity as an Australian employee.