todays geelong advertiser
Avalon job cuts loom
Friday, December 2
DANNY LANNEN
UP to 200 aircraft maintenance engineers at Avalon Airport are facing the axe.
Qantas and Forstaff Aviation officials have told workers and union representatives they need to cut costs and find more work to save an entire maintenance shift.
Engineers are already facing pay cuts as they switch to new rosters to reduce the expense of penalty loadings.
Qantas hopes to table findings from a review of its entire maintenance network early next year and industry leaders fear the airline will take all its work offshore.
Forstaff Aviation has 800 maintenance workers at Avalon contracted by Qantas. Many of the engineers live in Lara and district.
Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association federal secretary Tim Heywood said the situation facing Avalon staff was desperate.
``Only about a month ago we thought we were home and hosed then yesterday they started doing talks with staff down there and identified that come the end of May they won't have sufficient work for all three lines, they will only have sufficient work for two,'' Mr Heywood said.
``Obviously I've spoken to them about all this and they are currently out there looking for more work to fill that third line and keep it going.''
Qantas executive general manager of engineering and maintenance David Cox said yesterday the downgrading was not unexpected.
``Qantas always intended that its Avalon operations would provide additional engineering and maintenance capacity when it was needed,'' Mr Cox said.
``Work levels will fluctuate and this has always been understood by Forstaff Aviation.
``The completion of our refurbishment program for the Boeing 747-300 and the near completion of the skybed installation program means that work levels in the medium-term will not be as high at Avalon as they have been.''
Mr Heywood said Qantas and Forstaff Aviation leaders had been open during talks.
``The way they're talking at the moment they definitely have two lines to continue,'' Mr Heywood said.
``I can't see them being shut down. I don't even want to contemplate the whole joint shutting down.''
Qantas has heavy maintenance bases in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
One Avalon employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said yesterday he had worked at Avalon for almost seven years.
``There's always talk, you're never going to make 10 years,'' he said.
Forstaff Aviation leaders did not return Geelong Advertiser calls yesterday.