I have just been a on a cruise around New Zealand via Princess Line Cruise ship. Does this sound like the Jetstar/ Qantas model to you? Sounds like it to me.
- American company.
- Ship registered in the Bahamas.
- British Captain.
- The crew drawn from Mexico, Ukraine, India, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Poland, Roumania, South America, Ceylon, etc. About half (ie: those you see) speak reasonably good English, the "black gang" who are rarely seen and dress in rags, don't speak it well at all.
* The crew are on Six month rolling contracts. Say Twelve voyages per contract. No obligation to renew.
* Contract dates are unsynchronized. At the end of each voyage (every Two weeks or so) about Eighty crew (about 1000 total) rotate back home to their families by air at their own cost. They may receive another contract, maybe not. It depends.........
The benefits to the company include:
- no possibility of unionisation, any form of crew organisation, or crew complaint.
- absolute compliance with work instructions on pain of non renewal of contract.
- horrific salaries, terms and conditions. For example, you get sick ? Your problem.
- Consistent supply of young eager to please employees. When they burn out - goodbye.
The benefits ot the employees? Not much.
What would Qantas and its Board not like about this business model? With a little work "The Spirit Of Australia" would never even make a profit, let alone pay Australian tax.
My spies tell me that Qantas is training up young management "supervisors" to manage a largely foreign contract workforce for ground handling at Australian ports. There will be an Australian face "Front of house", but the rest of the workforce will be foreign contractors.
Last edited by Sunfish; 5th Feb 2012 at 08:17.