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disembarking the a/c in sin last week a syd based csm mumbled 'there go the uk scabs'
Hugh Grant (??!), I do agree with you that this kind of behaviour is stupid and pointless - as you pointed out, the FAAA/membership signed off on the London base. Anyone in the London base is NOT a "scab" and Australian based crew should not hold any resentment towards anyone who wants to work in the London base.
However, I can also understand why so many crew are upset with a lot of what has been going on lately, and the major changes and attacks on our job and lifestyle. So far, from what I have seen, the "Screw the Roo" team have not done anything wrong. They are meerly voicing their opinions of current management, a lot of which I agree with.
Unfortunately, we no longer have the powers we used to have as a union, and it is almost impossible to defend our hard-earned conditions. Of course it costs the company more money to uphold certain conditions - things like our slipping formula, hourly rates, transport entitlements, crew/company max, etc. But these are things we have fought for in the past, and make our job more bearable now. The company will take away any of these conditions they can, with little or no regard for our health, well-being or lifestyle. The Kiwis, Thais and now the London base are a good example of how Qantas would like us to work. I know a lot of AKL based crew have been doing 12-13 day trips with only a couple of days off afterward, then they're off again. 230-240 hour rosters, lower pay, shorter slips, contract employment. What sort of life is that? Sure, it saves the company money, but it is not fair to
PEOPLE. I think QF have long forgotten this and it is now purely about profits and shareholders.
Blah blah blah...