I do not make 85k. In fact, I could have a better quality of work environment running a front office somewhere. BUT- I love my job, I (mostly) love my passengers and I enjoy coming to work each day, despite a lot of the BS that goes on in the QF workplace.
Now 99% of the flight attendants at QF do their best to help the company out. A lot of us work on days off (and before you say for the extra money, no we do not get extra for working days off- that is something that was never in our agreement) Many of us personally suggest improvements or ways to save money which are either not listened to, or shrugged off then implemented months down the track once it becomes clear that the orginal way of doing things was flawed.
All I can say is, how long can one go putting the company first before things fall apart? It's a well known fact that employees will give a lot for a company that looks after them (Im not just talking $$$ here, I'm talking lifestyle, time off, promotion opportunities etc) and obviously something is/was very wrong at QF. I'd hate to see anyone lose their jobs but on the other hand, it's true that some people should have left long ago as they do not like what they do and just bring the rest of us down.
I too was wondering about the o/s base- I can understand having London, due distance, but the BKK base? Get rid of the slave labour and allow those poor people to have a real career! If you want to save Australian jobs, stop farming them off o/s. And I totally agree, if management had been fair with regard to the engineers, there would have been no need for the overtime bans. Anyone mentioning the latest industrial action- if you check that was ground services (baggage, catering etc) NOT engineers. Sure it was a pain in the ass with all the delays, but I am behind the boys fully for what they did. They do bloody good work under sometimes crappy conditions and a lot of pressure, and all they wanted was a reasonable pay increase (which they were entitled to years before). The state QF is in now began long before the engineer's dispute.
It will be an interesting few weeks, that's for sure. Let's hope QF use it to their advantage and come out better for it, rather than making things worse.