Airlines are asking employees to work for free during christmas: A Grinch-action of the worst kind

the Airline Qantas has sent out an email to its employees with the question if they are interested in volunteering during the holiday season.

In the email it says that Qantas is testing a new volunteer program for the employees who are interested in helping out during december and January, which Buzz Feed was first to report. The volunteer program will be implemented at the Sydney airport international terminal.

itself the to the new volunteer program is one way to save on costs. They argue that it instead is about ”spreading a little christmas spirit during a very busy period”. The volunteers will, among other things, help at the self-service-check-in and left-luggage office.

”We staff always with extra paid staff during the pike of the holiday season. And we have also asked the office staff if they want to provide a handle”, said Qantas in a statement, according to The Guardian.

received especially well by the fackorganisationen the Australian Services Union, ASU. Natalie Land at ASU's New South Wales office describes the volunteer program as a real ”Grinch-action”, an allusion to the julhatande fictional character the Grinch.

– Let us be clear, it is not volunteering. It is lönestöld, " says Natalie Country.

"They have the audacity to ask their lowest paid employees, if they want to work for free over christmas," she says.

Qantas has responded to the managers of the company tend to volunteer for the employer during the christmas season. Then, they usually hand out water and julchoklad and to help the travelers find on the terminals.

"It is unfortunate that ASU is trying to skew this into something negative," says a spokesperson for Qantas to The Guardian.

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