Is it just me, or do we need to look past the 3% base rate increase?
The 3% figure is a face-saving one for Qantas. There's an extra 1% super contribution from Qantas to added on to this. As well as service point, allowance increases etc.
I realize giving Qantas a kick in the guts through P.I.A. will make everybody feel a little better, I'm just not sure that under the current industrial relations laws, that such action will result in a better offer at this point in time.
I for one believe that Qantas management are that bloody minded, that they would offshore the majority of H/maint and possibly a great deal of ACS, in order to save face rather than cave in to P.I.A. I know that would stuff the organisation but, most of these guys wouldn't be around to have to clean up the mess.
I think everybody should wait and read the final document, and then let cooler heads prevail. The next round of EBA negotiations will hopefully be held in a far more friendly industrial relations environment than the current one inherited from the Howard government. Perhaps then we can inch further toward a more reasonable and respectable outcome.
Maybe I'm reading it all wrong but, my inclination as a LAME on the job, and with this latest agreemant hammered out over 13 months, is that we should play it safe.
