I would not categorize the information sent out by the faaa over the LHR base as the most intensive media campaign ever. We were never going to stop the LHR base as the company told everyone that QF was happy for Australian based crew to apply. The faaa never attempted to say that the pay on the LHR base was the equivalent of working in Sydney on a 50% pay cut, so none cared.
If we had an ad like the ACTU one where a flight attendant tells us that if he/she does not accept longer hours and a drop in conditions, they would be replaced with foreign workers it would hit the mark. Any Australian watching that would be outraged and QF would be besieged with interviews because other Australians would fear being replaced under the new IR laws if they don’t accept whatever the boss say’s. Imagine a roadside ad right opposite the main jet base entrance where everyone going to and from the international terminal would see it.
I suggested a media campaign to AM in the office and he laughed at me .He told me that I had no idea of how the world worked!!!The government and the ACTU believe that Ads work as does the rest of the world but the faaa knows better than everyone else.
Making a stand is not going to lead to our demise, that is a Chicken Little scenario scaring everyone into doing nothing. It is not that some crew are incapable of change but that some in the faaa believe that complete surrender is the only way forward.
We have a perfect chance with the “this is your life” last night.Dick Smith said one of the things he enjoys is that when you get on as QF flight any where in the world ,you feel at home .How about an ad where there is not one Australian crew member on board. In other words put the spotlight back on QF and make them react to us instead of the other way around.
The latest debacles include losing the cns/nrt and the company selling our crew rest seats.If this was the tech crew ,they would walk out and what do we do..nothing...How can you justify to a court that you expect crew not to have a rest for more than 5 hours and eat standing up when everyone else in the work place does the opposite
If the faaa believes that not giving the membership the right to know what is happening and not giving the chance to vote as is required under the constitution for a change of the EBA is the way forward, we are doomed
Last edited by lowerlobe; 1st Dec 2005 at 20:49.