JetStar is suspected of squeezing overseas employees (Daily Mail photo)
Jetstar (Jetstar), Australia`s cheap airline, is suspected of using obscure terms in international flight rules to squeeze overseas employees, some of whom earn as little as A $100 a week.
According to the Daily Mail, Jetstar Thai aircrew can schedule up to 20 hours of Australian flights, but the salary is still difficult to earn.
A survey by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation found that JetStar`s overseas crew were paid about A $60 per 36-hour international overnight work, while Australian domestic crew paid as much as A $129 a night.
While overseas crews are generally limited to international flights, Jetstar is suspected of using legal loopholes to arrange flights from Darwin to Adelaide to reduce costs.
Jetstar responded by admitting that more Thai crew had been scheduled to fly to Australia last month, but that was possible on a legal and technical basis. Thai aircrew flight Darwin to Adelaide, and then continue to fly to Indonesia`s Bali International Airport, so it is an international "label" flight.
In addition, the A $100-a-week salary quoted in the news release of JetStar is misleading, which is simply the base salary for inexperienced junior staff. Thai aircrew earn an average of A $2600 a month, depending on seniority, which is five times the average monthly salary for local Thai residents.
However, a former Thai aircrew member of JetStar said that while the salary was indeed higher than local standards in Thailand, the schedule forced him to stay in Australia for a long period of time, causing him to overcover his income. (he Rong)
