Qantas to slash jobs and flights as turbulence hits- Ben Schneiders
- April 15, 2009
QANTAS will urge staff to take unpaid leave and job-share, and is considering asking unions for a wage freeze, as nearly 10 per cent of its workforce, or more than 3000 jobs, are cut in less than a year.
A decision to cut up to 1750 jobs over the next few months, announced yesterday, comes on top of 1500 positions shed since July.
The latest move by Qantas comes in response to a rapidly deteriorating economy, falling demand from business and international customers and aggressive fare discounts across the industry.
The Qantas cuts coincided with another serious jobs blow for Ballarat, with Lihir Gold announcing it would cut 200 positions from its local gold mining operation.
Qantas said a large portion of employees to go this time would be "front-line staff" — likely to include flight attendants, pilots, customer service staff, ground crew and baggage handlers.
The airline will also cut flights on busy routes, including Melbourne to Sydney, ground aircraft, defer the purchase of 16 new ones, including four giant Airbus A380s, and seek to sell up to 10 of its existing fleet. International flights will also be cut, including to London, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
Chief executive Alan Joyce would not provide details of how many flights would be chopped or where job losses would occur, but said the job cuts would mostly be in Australia. About 500 management positions across the airline will go and up to 1250 other staff.
He said he would ask staff to take unpaid leave, consider part-time work and job-sharing and take annual leave in a bid to lessen job losses. When asked if he would push unions for a wage freeze, Mr Joyce said management wages had already been frozen and the airline would discuss "every potential measure" .
ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence said the question of wages was complicated by the number of agreements unions had with the airline. "It's not on the table from our point of view. It's not something that could practically happen in any event," he said.
"What we need is serious negotiations with Qantas about preserving jobs. I understand Qantas is affected by the global financial crisis but Qantas … need to make sure they keep as many jobs as possible, keep a skills base so when conditions do turn up they can take advantage of that."
The Federal Government had little warning of yesterday's move. A Qantas spokesman called the office of Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard in the morning to say there would be an announcement but did not give details.
Ms Gillard said that after last week's news of a big jump in unemployment, "this is another difficult day".
She said Qantas had made it clear that its decision "is largely in response to a rapid deterioration in its international business". This was not just Australians not travelling as much, but people overseas not travelling as much as before. "It stands to reason that a global recession is going to hit international travel particularly, as people around the world find themselves less able to finance travel," she said.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said the Qantas announcement was a reminder that "the three top priorities in Australia are jobs, jobs, jobs". "There are hundreds of Australians who are going to be out of work as a result of this decision," he said.
Mr Joyce said the job losses were necessary because Qantas was to cut its flying capacity by a further 5 per cent, and less capacity necessitated fewer "operational staff". Mr Joyce, who replaced long-term Qantas head Geoff Dixon last year, said profit before tax would fall from about $500 million to as little as $100 million this financial year. But he said Qantas was still one of the strongest airlines in the world.
Mr Joyce said there had been significant discounting in the industry, particularly on international routes where the number of flights was rising.
Ms Gillard said it was pleasing that for 1250 non-managerial jobs, Qantas planned to "explore all options, with redundancies as a last resort".
"The most important thing in the difficult period following the global financial crisis and in the midst of the global recession is for employers to do all they can to retain staff," she said.
Ms Gillard said that for Qantas workers made redundant "the Government will be there with an offer of intensive employment services and access to training, to do everything we can to help them to maximise their chance of getting another job."
With
MICHELLE GRATTAN