Thousands of Australian workers whose company was sold two years ago to a foreign government-controlled entity are being excluded from the Morrison government's JobKeeper scheme.
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Workers from dnata and union officials rallied outside Parliament House on Tuesday to protest the company's exclusion from the $70 million wage subsidy scheme.
Qantas sold the airline catering company in 2018 to Emirates, which is owned by the Dubai government.
The transaction was approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
But while the company - which employs around 5500 workers, including 20 in Canberra - received JobKeeper payments initially, the payments were later revoked because the company is owned by a foreign government.
A vote on a Labor and Greens motion to disallow the exclusion will take place in the Senate late on Wednesday.
Transport Workers Union ACT sub-branch secretary Klaus Pinkas said workers had been excluded "through no fault of their own".
"That sale to Emirates was approved by a Liberal federal government and through no fault of their own, some people have been doing the same job for 30 years," Mr Pinkas said.
"They're Australian citizens. It's just their bad luck that a company that's owned by a foreign government bought them."
Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O'Neil said the decision had disproportionately hurt women.
She linked it to the decision to wind back the wage subsidy for childcare workers from next month.
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"You know what the cabin service workers, and the dnata workers and the childcare workers have in common? The majority of them are women. The majority of these workers are low income workers who are doing hard important jobs that this government is turning a blind eye to," Ms O'Neil said.
"They don't care about the gender impact of what they're doing, they seem to have only very limited support to some industries without thinking about the real impact."
Around 8000 Virgin staff are covered by the scheme, which will expire in September.
"Last night we wrote to government asking for clarification of their intentions regarding future and ongoing support for the aviation industry," joint administrator and Deloitte Restructuring Services partner Vaughan Strawbridge said.
"It's important the bidders understand levels of government support so they know how to structure their bids."
