Qantas attendants 'bulldozed' through training
Wed "The Australian"
Qantas attendants 'bulldozed' through training
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
October 20, 2004
QANTAS faces further checks of its flight attendant training after allegations in an internal email that controversial fixed-term flight attendants are being bulldozed through emergency procedures training.
The allegations, contained in a leaked internal memo from senior Qantas emergency procedures instructor Robert Ford, were forwarded by flight attendant union officials to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority last night.
"I am seriously concerned about the way the contingency students are being bulldozed through," Mr Ford said in the memo.
"It seems to me that the company is only interested in numbers, not quality."
About 350 fixed-term flight attendants are at the centre of a dispute between Qantas and the Flight Attendants Association of Australia about overseas bases. The FAAA fears the airline will use the fixed-termers as strikebreakers if it takes industrial action over Christmas.
The fixed-termers do 11 days' training instead of the normal six weeks, but the airline and CASA say this is because they are being trained on only one aircraft type rather than the whole fleet. But trainee assessments seen by The Australian indicate the new flight attendants believe they are not given enough time.
Mr Ford, who was unhappy about instructors' rosters, also alleged training reviews were held without course instructors being present.
"If we don't start getting the people running our two rosters talking to each other ... then the wheels are about to fall off," he said.
FAAA international division secretary Michael Mijatov said the memo indicated significant problems with training and called for an immediate CASA investigation.
"It's saying people are being bulldozed, it's saying Qantas is not interested in quality, and all this suggests the training is inadequate," he said.
But CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said two of its inspectors audited the training last week and had been happy that it was being conducted properly.
Qantas Airlines executive general manager John Borghetti said the airline's emergency procedures training for fixed-term cabin crew term training was the same as normal Qantas training and in accordance with CASA approved sources.
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