http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-16/qantas-slash-jobs-launch-asia-airline/2841330


Quote:

Qantas boss Alan Joyce said the airline would be forced to lay off 1,000 employees as he announced plans to launch new airlines in Asia and Japan this morning. Mr Joyce said the airline would have to make hundreds of employees redundant, including management, pilots, cabin crew, engineering staff and airport administration staff. And he warned that the changes, which included delaying delivery of some of the airline's Airbus A380, were vital if Qantas was to carry out the "fundamental change" needed to ensure its survival. The company is planning to launch a new Asia-based premium airline which will not carry the Qantas brand, although a location for the new carrier has not yet been decided. It is also launching Jetstar Japan in cooperation with Japan Airlines and Mitsubishi. The new low-cost carrier is expected to commence domestic operations in Japan by the end of 2012 and international services within a year. The announcement brought a swift reponse from unions representing Qantas engineers and pilots. The ACTU called the announcement "one of the darkest days in the airline's history", accused Qantas management of displaying a "blatant contempt" for its workforce, and said the move raised questions about whether it could still portray itself as an Austalian airline. The aircraft engineers union said it would consider taking legal action against the airline while the Australian and International Pilots Association accused Mr Joyce of having "no belief" in the Qantas brand. Qantas will save $2.3 billion by retiring some of its Boeing 747 airliners and putting Airbus A380s on hold, but will order more of the smaller Airbus A320s which are more suited for shorter-haul flights. Mr Joyce warned that massive change was needed in the international division to keep the airline profitable. He said it could not continue to be subsidised by the dominant 65 per cent market share Qantas and Jetstar enjoy in the Australian domestic market. Warning that the airline has to compete against many government-subsidised Middle Eastern and Asian carriers, he said it now carried only 18 out of every 100 passengers leaving Australia.

That's nice....

Qantas’ announcement that it will shift operations offshore and sack at least 1000 workers is an outrage and raises concerns about whether it can continue to portray itself as an Australian airline.   >:(

ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence said Qantas management had shown blatant contempt for its loyal workforce who have made the airline the best in the world.

Australians will not support a race to the bottom by a company that is prepared to trade-off Australian jobs to maintain its status as the most profitable airline in the world, Mr Lawrence said.   :(

Unions will be examining whatever further legislative or regulatory steps might be necessary to ensure Qantas remains an Australian company.

“This is one of the darkest days in the history of Qantas,” Mr Lawrence said.

“Today, Qantas management has turned its back on Australia and on Australian jobs to head down the path of a race to the bottom that would see a large section of its workforce employed on the pay and conditions of developing countries.   :(

“Qantas trades on a reputation for safety and high-quality service.

“This reputation hasn’t come by accident. It comes from the hardworking efforts of a professional, highly-skilled workforce.

“And this is the thanks they get in return.

“How Qantas can continue to claim to be the ‘Spirit of Australia’ when a growing proportion of its business is not based here is a mystery.”

Mr Lawrence said unions would seek to ensure that any Qantas services, either under the Qantas brand or a subsidiary, that flies into or out of Australia continues to be bound by Australian workplace laws, and its employees should be employed under Australian wages and conditions, wherever they are based.   ;)

Unions will also seek urgent talks with Qantas management to provide full details of its plans and to minimise any job losses.

“All Australians have a stake in seeing Qantas continue as a major employer of Australians in decent, good quality jobs,” Mr Lawrence said.

“Alan Joyce is today talking about making cuts to almost every part of Qantas’ operations, including pilots, cabin crews, airport staff, and engineers.   :(

“We cannot see any need for there to be any forced redundancies from the plan announced today and we will seek to ensure that is the case at the earliest possible opportunity.”

As a QAN shareholder - this needed to happen.

The OpEx of the business was absurd in the salaries and wages line. There was plenty of room for movement.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Aug 16^th, 2011 at 8:58pm:

As a QAN shareholder - this needed to happen. The OpEx of the business was absurd in the salaries and wages line. There was plenty of room for movement.

Yes as one of the greedy few you would but their is more at stake. Of course this is all the lefts fault after all the fools have been warning of this for about two years but profit for the wealthy is more important than anything else.

Everyone who holds Qantas shares is 'wealthy' are they?

Got any more other blanket assumptions in the bag there?

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Aug 16^th, 2011 at 8:58pm:

As a QAN shareholder - this needed to happen. The OpEx of the business was absurd in the salaries and wages line. There was plenty of room for movement.

I bet you don't complain about the CEO's pay packet ;)

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Aug 16^th, 2011 at 9:15pm:

Everyone who holds Qantas shares is 'wealthy' are they? Got any more other blanket assumptions in the bag there?

I love how these aussie companies expect aussies to invest in them only to use that money to back door their fellow countrymen and throw them on the unemployment scrap heap. It gives new meaning to Howard's mate ship slogan ;)

I am sure the qualified pilots will find other jobs but
I'm not sure about the trolley dollies.

Crying poor and laying of 1000 staff in Australia, yet still have the money to start two new airlines in Asia?

Something very fishy here.

Ground handlers at Qantas fear the company is planning a bigger industrial campaign than Patricks Stevedores launched against its workforce in the waterfront dispute of the mid-1990s.   :o

TWU national secretary, Tony Sheldon, said that Qantas management had made it clear throughout EBA negotiations they would be fighting over “common sense inclusions for safety” in order to drive down costs.   :(

“This week’s announcement of 1000 jobs being off-shored is a shallow grab for short-term profits. This has a multiplier effect of 6.5 jobs throughout the industry for every Qantas Job. Its' five-year plan will see 5000 Qantas jobs in Australia will disappear. Alan Joyce has made it clear he will not negotiate on job security, he will not negotiate on safety – the only offer on the table is spin,” Mr Sheldon said.   :(

“Qantas has been preparing for this for a number of years – the board could not get their bonus from the attempted private equity bid because Australians said no. They could not sell it so now they have to kill it to get their bonus.

“The company has used funds to set up a website slandering its permanent workforce, and has spent money training strike-breakers in the United States.   >:(

“But we welcome Senator Xenaphon’s announcement  on the private member’s bill to be introduced into the Senate. There needs to be intervention here from Parliament to protect the interests of all Australians,” Mr Sheldon said.   ;)

wrote on Aug 20^th, 2011 at 1:18pm:

“This week’s announcement of 1000 jobs being off-shored is a shallow grab for short-term profits.

Somebody needs to explain to that idiot Union hack that this is not short-term profits, they are in fact long term.

It's a strategic change, which is all about sustainability and increasing capital costs to build for the future to increase market share.

That's as opposite to short termist profits as you can get.

In fact (and I have been through this process) off-shoring headcount and streamlining across regions is actually costly in the short term so will actually hit the bottom line rather than make profit in the short term.

In the long term it is good for Qantas shareholders though.

Something clearly is wrong though from a competition side of things.

My old folks are going to Aus in November and for the first time I can remember they are not going BA or Qantas.

Malaysia Airlines had Qantas all ends up on cost so they get their custom.

Now what's the key here?

Malaysia doesn't need to pay AU rates to its ground crew - hence can undercut QAN on the LHR-MEL flight by several hundred pounds per ticket.

Qantas couldn't continue being undercut by that amount.

AUSTRALIA'S peak flying union has stepped up its campaign against the proposed Qantas restructure by urging shareholders to jettison the company's CEO and ramping up in-flight announcements by staff calling on passengers to support their cause.

The Australian and International Pilots Association said more than 16,000 passengers had registered their support since it issued airline staff last month with a public announcement script to be read out on all flights.   :)

"We are are proud of our profession and our airline and trust you will support us in keeping Qantas pilots in Qantas aircraft," it read.

But an Association spokesman said senior union executives would meet in Sydney on Tuesday to discuss the next phase of the union campaign

In a major headache for CEO Alan Joyce, APIA president Barry Jackson has also called on the airline's shareholders to force him to resign.   :)

Mr Jackson, who is a Qantas A380 captain, said the company had no option but to jettison Mr Joyce, with the CEO having presided over a dramatic tumble in market share and trust in the brand.   :(




"Shareholders cannot afford a leader who believes shrinking the network and shifting resources to Asia is the way to win back lost customers and profits," he said.

"Shareholders cannot afford a leader who twists the airline's numbers to obscure the value in the Qantas brand in order to justify ill-advised forays into an unpredictable market.

"In essence, shareholders cannot afford Alan Joyce."

Mr Joyce argues the airline will face ruin unless it creates ventures overseas, and accuses unions of trashing the Qantas brand by making "misleading claims" about off-shoring jobs and airline safety.

Qantas would end up like "(defunct airlines) Ansett, TWA and Pan Am" unless it restructured international operations. The restructure will axe 1000 Australian jobs spread across pilots, cabin crew, maintenance staff and management.   :(

Facing increasing pressure from unions and politicians, Mr Joyce spent last week meeting with Labor, Liberal and Greens MPs over the plan - which would cut some routes and decrease flights out of Australia, with two Asian-based carriers to fill the gaps.

Mr Jackson said Qantas was at the most significant crossroads of its 90-year history. "Passengers fly Qantas for its safety culture and Australian identity," he said.

"These factors ... are incredibly hard for competitors to mimic. Yet despite having these key advantages at his disposal, Mr Joyce has done everything possible to jettison them before entering a crowded race in Asia."   :(

But he emphasised pilots were not against change so long as Qantas retained the qualities that gave it a key edge over its competitors.

In a major headache for CEO Alan Joyce, APIA president Barry Jackson has also called on the airline's shareholders to force him to resign.   :)  

Mr Jackson, who is a Qantas A380 captain, said the company had no option but to jettison Mr Joyce, with the CEO having presided over a dramatic tumble in market share and trust in the brand.                         Yes Mr Alan Joyce, it looks like its time for you to go.   ;)

Blame the unions and Juliar's carbon tax

24 August 2011

By the ASU, the airlines industry union

Today's announcement by Qantas is the 18th consecutive year that the airline has announced a profit since the merger of Australian Airlines and Qantas and makes it one of the most profitable airlines in the world and yet the company is about to embark upon a strategy of offshoring and outsourcing jobs to new offshoots based outside Australia.   :(

Today, CEO Alan Joyce has again foreshadowed more announcements which the ASU believes will result in more jobs being offshored.

"It is time for Qantas to come clean on how many jobs in the Qantas group will be offshored - currently Qantas says that 92% of the staff are Australian based but what will be the situation after the next announcement?" ASU Assistant Secretary Linda White said.

"What percentage of the jobs in the Qantas Group will be in Australia - is it 80%, 60% or 50% - they are not saying and it is time the company did," Linda White said.   >:(

Over recent years the Qantas group has offshored jobs in IT, load control, call centres, operations, administration and a range of other areas and this has seen the number of Australian based staff decrease.   :(

"A key reason that Qantas has been one of the most profitable and successful airlines in the world is its Australian staff - the customers recognise this, it is time that Qantas management did too," Linda White said.   ;)

"It is all very well for Qantas to trade on the "Australian Spirit" but there won't be too much of that left if more jobs are offshore," she said.   :(