From The Australian:
A MAJOR union is threatening strike action after Qantas announced it will axe 5000 jobs over three years.
Unions also took aim at the performance of Qantas management after chief executive Alan Joyce declared today’s $252 million first half underlying loss “unacceptable’’ and announced a major restructuring of the national carrier.
Unions will tomorrow meet Qantas management over the job cuts, which include 1500 management and non-operational roles and a swathe of jobs in aircraft maintenance.
But Transport Workers Union national secretary Tony Sheldon warned Qantas could face industrial action.
He called on the Abbott government to meet with the airline to find ways of avoiding the job cuts.
“But if (Treasurer) Joe Hockey’s not prepared to do that, then it’s industrial action that the workforce should be considering,’’ Mr Sheldon told reporters in Sydney.
“We have the right to withdraw our labour.’’
The Abbott Government appears to have been looking for a corporate stalking horse to help accelerate its anti-union agenda and it may just have found one.
Are we thinking this is a deliberately manufactured situation to allow abbot to run his anti union agenda or is he just taking advantage ?
Unions are short-sighted, narrow-minded parasites, happy to suck the country dry without ever looking at the bigger picture.
For a second I thought you were talking about the Qantas management team.
PlaneTalking today reported on how Qantas management intends to treat their Perth -> Singapore customers when they cancel the route in May.
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/2014/02/27/perth-struck-off-the-qantas-map-of-the-world/
Would someone who is forced to take the 12-13 hour detour from Perth ever fly Qantas again? Unions are not the only short-sighted, narrow-minded parasites.
Don’t worry, they’ll give you a ticket on a direct Jetstar flight (LOL!). Or a full refund. So really, nobody’s being “forced” to detour via the east coast.
Me, I’d take the refund and book with Singapore Airlines. Most business travelers that do serious international travel left One World for Star Alliance a long time ago. Star Alliance beats the pants off of One World in Asia (Singapore, Thai) and North America (United, US, Air Canada).
Cancelling the Qantas-branded Perth->Singapore flight is probably a good business decision as the mining investment boom winds down. There will be greatly reduced business traffic, and Bogans on vacation prefer Jetstar.
+1
walking a thin line comes to mind.
Nice joke Budreika. Lol.
As an engineer, I wish we had a proper union.
I appreciate the situation is complex and nuanced, but i think this line says a lot.
“We have the right to withdraw our labour.’’
OUR LABOUR
does the Union actually own the workers. I thought it was a body that was meant to represent them, not make demands of them to walk off a job
I can appreciate there’d be a lot of justifiably upset workers today, but a strike will do nothing to help the situation.
Sad day for Aussie economy, and as usual, all sides dig even deeper into their positions, making progress even more unlikely
You misunderstand Jordan
The unions own the Qantas workers in the same way they own the Toyota workers. It is not for the workers to negotiate with the managers of their own enterprise, they have to do it through a third party. That’s what the Fair Work Act was designed to facilitate. The fact that you have to sacrifice your job for the greater (the union corporation’s) good is neither here nor there. I’m sure any Qantas workers who will lose their jobs as a result of this strike would strongly agree.
Oh, and if you see a convoy of bikies heading your way, run.
Qantas unions must want to expedite the end…perhaps they should have a timely word with Bill Shorten and plead for a change of stance re the Qantas Sales Act.
At least it will enable the buildings to be chained up neatly without the worry of leaving someone inside I suppose.
Air New Zealand, government owned full service airline with unionised workers, etc. posted 40% profit growth
Qantas issues are management issues and not only that unions should strike but shareholders should join them.
You are right about Air Nz spec. But given that Air NZ already had its bankruptcy scare and subsequent cost cutting/restructuring after Anzett and has been a low cost airline with a low costbase ever since, I’d say it’s a completely different beast to the lethargic leviathan Qantas is.
they may be low cost but they are full service airline
jim,
Could you provide some evidence that it’s a low cost airline. I’m not aware of any slashing of wages after the Ansett debacle by AirNZ management.
DNE
I didn’t say anything about cutting wages.
ABC article says that they cut 700 jobs, and the wiki says “In 2002, Air New Zealand reconfigured its domestic operations under a low-cost airline business plan” which was post the Ansett business.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-27/air-new-zealand-posts-40-per-cent-profit-rise-as-qantas-flounde/5288062
Don’t think AirNZ is that unionised, certainly not to the extent of Australian legacy carriers.
So much anti-union rhetoric.
Sounds like many have swallowed everything the liberals have fed them.
Now that you’ve deep throated, it will soon be time to bend over!