Coronavirus jobs fallout: at least 35,000 workers stood down in three days as businesses reel
At least 35,000 people have been put out of work in just three days by casinos, airlines, retailers and other businesses that have stood down their workers in response to the coronavirus crisis.
On Wednesday Virgin Australia stood down 8,000 staff after slashing its already reduced schedules to the bone, while casino operator Star Entertainment stood down 8100 workers due to new social distancing rules that have shut down its gambling operations in Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
The United Workers Union (UWU) said another 10,000 workers were stood down on Monday by James Packer’s Crown Resorts group and estimated the total number of people suddenly thrown out of work in the casino sector was about 20,000 once smaller operators were taken into account.
Casinos had remained open until the weekend, despite pressure from public health experts to shut them down.
The most recent job cuts add to 20,000 workers stood down by Australia’s flagship airline, Qantas, last week.
Westpac’s chief economist, Bill Evans, said the coronavirus crisis would cost 814,000 jobs by June, more than doubling the unemployment rate to 11.1%.
UWU casino director Dario Mujkic said the union negotiated a fortnight’s worth of payments for workers stood down by Crown and Star, which he described as “a good stopgap measure”.
“The issue’s going to be in three weeks’ time, when there’s no wages coming in the bank but there is rent due, there is a mortgage repayment due, there is an expensive electricity bill due, what do I do? I’ve received no income and I know I’m not going to receive any income in the next fortnight or the fortnight after that, and probably several fortnights after that, that’s the issue.
“This is going to be a long-term crisis, not a short-term crisis.”
In general most large companies have preferred to stand down permanent workers, meaning they can be re-employed when social distancing rules are loosened or business picks up, rather than sack them outright.
This is because making people redundant involves paying them relatively large sums of money and businesses that are unlikely to have any income of their own for months are trying to hoard as much cash as possible.
However, many casual workers, especially in hospitality and events, have simply lost all their shifts after employers closed their doors.
Unions and the opposition Labor party have called on the Morrison government to urgently provide rent relief, but a solution has been slow to emerge from the so-called “national cabinet” of state and federal leaders. The issue was set to be considered by national cabinet on Wednesday evening.
Mujkic said that in a survey of about 3500 UWU members this week, “a majority of those people are telling us they’re going to be in severe financial stress in the next fortnight”.
“Almost everyone has said that one of those three are going to be a problem for them in the immediate future, and so the next job for the union is getting in touch with these people and figuring out what, if any, assistance we can provide with things like deferring mortgage repayments, deferring rent, payment plans etc,” he said.
Hospitality and entertainment workers, who were first to be hit by layoffs and are also represented by the UWU, have previously warned they face an imminent rent crisis.
Also cutting workers on Wednesday
was Mosaic Group, which owns clothing chains including Rivers, Noni B and Katies, which closed its stores and stood down its 6800 employees.
Fitness chain Viva Leisure, which runs gyms under the Club Lime and Hiit Republic brands, closed all 40 of its outlets and laid off or stood down 1002 staff, chief executive Harry Konstantinou told Guardian Australia.
Pub group Redcape, funeral home
Invocare and skincare chain Vita Group also cut staff on Wednesday but did not provide numbers.
Australia’s biggest media group, News Corp, told staff it would try to minimise job cuts by forcing them to take leave and asking some employees to go to part-time work or a nine-day fortnight.
In an email to staff on Wednesday, News Corp Australasia’s executive chairman, Michael Miller, said executives would also take a significant pay cut.
“While the public are turning to our trusted news brands in huge numbers, falling business confidence is impacting the advertising revenues of all media businesses,” he said.