Not that it was all that hard to figure out...... (from
www.news.com.au)
Qantas admits strikebreaking plan
By Steve Creedy
October 19, 2004
QANTAS officials finally admitted yesterday that 350 flight attendants employed on three-month contracts would be asked to fly in place of permanent staff if there was a strike over Christmas.
Understaffed ... Qantas rejects claims replacement flight attendants lack sufficient training.
Officials moved beyond previously circumspect references to "contingency plans" amid claims by the Flight Attendants Association of Australia that the airline was creating a "Dad's Army" of poorly trained strikebreakers.
Qantas Airlines executive general manager John Borghetti said the primary reason for employing the short-term flight attendants was to cover increased flying, which included new services to China, Europe and the US.
"However, if you're asking me the question - are these people going to fly if the FAAA takes industrial action, are we going to ask them to do that? - the answer is yes," he said.
The FAAA is shaping up for the Christmas stoush as it prepares to start negotiating a new enterprise bargaining agreement and fights a Qantas plan to base 400 flight attendants in London.
The Australian Industrial Relations Commission will hear union complaints today about secrecy and lack of access to the short-term employees. The commission sent the parties away for face-to-face talks after a short hearing yesterday morning at which the union sought unsuccessfully to get a copy of the short-term contracts.
Mr Borghetti said there was "absolutely no secrecy". "We've informed the union that we're doing it and we've offered them access to talk to the groups."
He also rejected union claims the new staff were inadequately trained.
FAAA international division secretary Michael Mijatov said the flight attendants were receiving 11 days' training instead of six weeks.
But Mr Borghetti said the training was shorter because crew were being trained on only one aircraft type, the Boeing 747, instead of a range of aircraft. He said the training had been approved by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
The Australian