Quick answer to the above mentioned article. Pacific Brands were not looking at scaling back production. Qantas is looking at scaling back flights. Pacific brands was MOVING jobs offshore. Qantas is not. Infact, as far as engineering goes, they have pulled out of the Malaysian joint venture, effectively thwarting plans to offshore some work.
What Aussies don't want to see at the moment, is opportunistic attempts to screw over Aussie workers as Pacific brands are doing. It is understandable that Qantas would be doing it tough now and I think Alan Joyce's response so far has been reasonable (Thank F#%ck Dixon went when he did). Is Qantas saving its customers money right now? Yes. Check ticket prices and you will find some very competitive deals compared to what we have seen from Qantas in the past.
Pacific brands however, appear to be taking the opportunity to replace Aussies with lower paid overseas workers. Will this cost saving be passed on to its customers? No.
Snouts in the trough at Pacific Brands, as Qantas was under Dixon.