1. The company must maximise profits in the long term. Any idiot can fiddle the books for a few years by cutting staff, postponing maintenance and financial engineering, e.g.: dicking with provision accounts.
2. The cuts were made because the management ******** in charge has the management accounts and accountability set up wrongly (ie: silos). So Mr. ground handling gets a gold star for cost reduction. However Mr. Operations and Mr. Engineering get increased costs for delays and repairs because of ground handling stuff ups. The management speak term for this is called “sub optimisation” as each segment manager seeks their own departments profitability without regard to other departments. The head ******** , Alan Joyce, is responsible for this situation.
3.There will be a measurable cost in the national accounts for this stupidity. It affects QF market share and tourism.
P. S. I chucked bags during a few strikes many many years ago. It is not a completely unskilled task. It requires intelligent pacing and planning to achieve the required accuracy and reliability shift after shift and day after day. It is not a job for the lowest paid.