Qantas Volunteer Program: Employment Relations and Ethical Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Qantas volunteer program, addressing the ethical implications of its implementation, particularly concerning labor rights and stakeholder perspectives. The analysis begins by examining the arguments presented by Qantas management to justify the program's introduction, followed by an assessment of whether the management's approach aligns with a unitarist or pluralist frame of reference, supported by academic literature. The report then evaluates the program's ethical standing, considering whether it adheres to labor laws and ethical codes of practice, and employs consequentialism and deontology theories to assess the airport's actions. Furthermore, the report explores the benefits of volunteer programs for students, communities, and organizations, highlighting the skills and experience gained by volunteers and the positive impact on communities. The report concludes by integrating the findings to provide a balanced and in-depth understanding of the Qantas volunteer program and its implications.

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QANTAS VOLUNTEER PROGRAM
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Question 1
The airport’s management introduces the volunteer program with the argument that they
wanted to give the youths a chance to gain experience and gain more skills (Noyes &
Cunningham 2018). Any volunteer program aims at helping the involved youths or students
improve on their skills and build on their career, and the airport management introduced the
program thinking that the public will not know their intention. However, the airport did not carry
out the program as required; hence, they did not achieve what the program should yield. Another
argument that the management held to protect their practice was that the program aimed at
spreading cheerfulness and joy during the festive season. According to management, they
thought that the youths would enjoy working in the airport and the program would be a success.
This was not the case because the program did not work out like how the youths expected; most
of them had high expectation with the program; hence, they ended up being disappointed.
Another argument that the airport’s management had in mind while introducing the volunteer
program was that the program would help them ease the burden in the organisation. This
argument was successful since the youths helped them with the job, the burden that seemed to be
so heavy on them.
Unitarist means that the workplace should be harmonious while on the other hand or
pluralist means that a workplace, which is governed by many different, parties (Heery 2016. Pp
14-36). Basing my conclusion from this instance, I think that the airport is a pluralist
organisation whereby each of the parts makes their decision without consulting the others. I
made such a conclusion because there seems to have been a miscommunication somewhere
along the organisation’s channel of conversation. The organisation tried to justify its wrongful
act by telling the union that they were proving chances for the youths to learn, the union failed to

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agree since this was the first time Qantas introduced the program. The management aimed at
lowering the cost, but from the human resource department, they viewed it as an opportunity
given to the youths to learn and gain experience. This act was a clear indication that the
organisation operates as a pluralist, the leaders’ decisions and conclusions are differing; this
means they were not reading from the same book.
Question 2
Volunteering programs are not against labor rights, but if the organisation offering the
program acts unethically, and then it turns to be malicious. Australian Services Union is against
Qantas volunteer program because it looks like the airport management is exploiting the
volunteers to some extent. Among the arguments that the union holds against the airport having
the volunteer program is that, they feel that they are using the youths to cut their costs. The
reason behind this argument is that the airport should have paid their workers overtime, but
instead they take youths on the volunteer program to do that work to avoid paying overtime
(Bauer 2017. pp.5). This is a clear indication that the airport introduced the program intending to
lower their cost of operation.
According to the article, they have against the program is that despite the airport earning
high earnings they are not paying the volunteers. The union believes that since the business is at
its pick, the airport should give the volunteers a token of appreciation. Another alternative they
could be that the airport employs part-time workers instead of introducing a volunteer program,
which seems like an exploitation of the youths. The airport should have been fair because their
theme is that people should be cheerful during the festive season, but they do not apply this on
the volunteer program.

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Referring to the arguments I think the volunteer program was unethical, and this means
that the airport practice was against the labor law and they did not follow the code of ethics. The
ethical requirement is that an organisation conducts its business in a way that they follow the
required code of practice (Bauer 2017. pp.5). In this case of Qantas airport their volunteer
program did not seem genuine it looks like it was an exploitation of the youths in the name of
helping them gain more experience and skills. Judging from a Consequentialism view, I think
that the airport knew that they were doing the wrong thing and their practice was unethical, this
is because previously they use their staff to do the same work, but this time they decided to
exploit the youths in the name of the volunteer program. If we view the practices using the
Deontology theory, then we can say that the idea of introducing the program was right, but the
organisation was against the laws that govern the code of practice. Being ethical is required by
both the law and the Christian teachings, therefore considering Consequentialism and
Deontology ethics every workplace should be ethical in their practice. The law requires that an
organisation follow their code of ethics while Christianity requires that people should behave in a
way that pleases God.
Question 3
Yes. Volunteer programs are very beneficial and helpful to people, and the programs may
help the students, community and organisation offering the opportunities. Students who join
volunteer programs benefit very much because they gain skills and experience while
volunteering in most cases the students are allocated duties that match their career. Working in
line with their career the students can become more skilful in their career they build a competent
career base from these programs. Most universities have internship programs as mandatory for
one to complete their course, most students enroll in a volunteer program as their internship

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(Beck, Chretien, and Kind 2015. pp.1276-1282). the programs help the students build on their
work experience. In some instances some students end up getting permanent jobs after the
volunteering program ends; this saves them the struggle of securing a job.
Similarly, volunteer programs are beneficial to the community; this is because when most
people are volunteering, they do it so that they can offer their help. Most students in the
university enrol in the volunteering programs because they have identified that there is a need in
the community where they can help. The primary motivation is the desire to help others in the
community who they believe they need their help. The programs give the students unique
opportunities for these students to make a positive impact in their local community by helping
others.
Additionally, during these programs, an individual meets new people. An individual
interacts with new people; hence, they can improve on their social life and learn new things from
these people (Whillans et al. 2016. pp.35-50). For instance, one may join a volunteer program in
an organisation, which has individuals from diverse cultures, the students will be able to learn
and understand different cultures from their colleagues. The plans also help create awareness in
the community in that the people involved in the program educate the community on various
issues, which are essential to them. The community gains more knowledge on issues from these
educative programs.

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References
Bauer, I., 2017. More harm than good? The questionable ethics of medical volunteering and
international student placements. Tropical diseases, travel medicine and vaccines, 3(1), p.5.
Beck, J., Chretien, K. and Kind, T., 2015. Professional identity development through service learning: A
qualitative study of first-year medical students volunteering at a medical specialty camp. Clinical
pediatrics, 54(13), pp.1276-1282.
Heery, E., 2016. Framing work: unitary, pluralist, and critical perspectives in the twenty-first century.
Oxford University Press.
Noyes, J, & Cunningham, M., 2018. Qantas call for Christmas airport volunteers has workers seeing red
retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/qantas-call-for-christmas-airport-
volunteers-has-workers-seeing-red-20181207-p50kzk.html on March 28, 2019
Whillans, A.V., Seider, S.C., Chen, L., Dwyer, R.J., Novick, S., Gramigna, K.J., Mitchell, B.A., Savalei,
V., Dickerson, S.S. and Dunn, E.W., 2016. Does volunteering improve well-being?. Comprehensive
Results in Social Psychology, 1(1-3), pp.35-50.