Qantas Sacking Tarmac Engineers

[ALAEA Fed Sec]

and the notice of today..






Notice 053/2014 - All Qantas Members - Redundancy Update 11th July 2014


The ALAEA office will be working over this weekend finalizing appeals from members who wish to appeal the compulsory retrenchments approved by Chris Nassenstein and implemented by Tony Lowery. Although it is most likely that the appeals will be rejected by Qantas, just because they think they can, it is essential that the process be undertaken as the matter is now likely to be put before the Federal Court. Please get your details to the office as soon as possible after being tapped as we have limited time to complete the paperwork.


One thing I ask all members to be aware of that emerged through consultation. The 175 LAME redundancies they are trying to implement now was part of the 5000 announced by Alan Joyce in February of this year. From the first meeting we have pressed the airline to elaborate on any further cuts out of the 5000 that may affect our members. They have continually avoided answering this question, only saying that there are 220 projects which are being worked through and that they will advise us when any further decisions have been made as per the terms of the Workplace Determination. In layman’s terms this means that they know very well that they want to sack a bucket load more of our members but won’t be telling us about it until the dust settles after this round.


Manpower Shortages


From Tuesday when the first of the LAMEs were marched off the bases and into the career advisory tent where they were shown how to write resumes, Qantas were seeking others to work overtime in the same departments where the departed vacated. The airline now don’t have enough LAMEs or Engineers to complete the known work it faces and we have already been advised of examples of the company pressuring LAMEs to cut corners to make this flawed system work. During consultation it was clearly demonstrated by us that the shortfall of staff compared to known work included:

• No factoring for anyone to take meal breaks within the twelve hour terminal rosters
• Allocation of 3.5 hours to 738 check 2’s when Mxi is averaging 8 hours per aircraft
• An assumption that all terminal sick leave will be covered on overtime
• 8 yearly hours of computer based training when the average LAME will require 100 hours to complete it
• Factoring of LAMEs covering 20 secondments at any one time when there are 73
• No provision for you to take your regular accruing Long Service Leave
• Terminal rovers cut by more than a half
• No LAMEs being allocated to MOD aircraft until the exact time of push, despite contrary maintenance memos
  The system has been designed with labour shortfalls and they will be expecting you to cut corners to make it work. This is essential for managers like Filipetto and Lowery so they can move on to stage two and find more LAMEs to sack. To protect your job we request that you not take any action to assist the company over and above your normal duties. If 50 Qantas planes are parked up against the fence in 4 months time, it is not your fault but theirs and we would rather them sacked than you.

Manpower Tracking

Much of Qantas’ justification for downsizing is based on loose records contained within Mxi and other documents. Qantas are well aware that many of the things we do are not really recorded anywhere. Tasks such as running people around airports, packing up wheels, listening to propaganda from Ops managers, waiting for delayed aircraft or filling out form 500’s for engines that aren’t bolted on correctly.
We cannot express enough that every single thing you do must be recorded accurately, and then the hours you take to record it also needs to be recorded. This is not a short term demand for you to whack a few things in the books as you grieve for a few work mates who are no longer beside you. This is something that you are always required to do by CASA and Qantas procedures.

Working Overtime

We have received many complaints from members about people who have worked overtime in the previous 48 hours.

Reporting Everything

Because Qantas will now be expecting you to do more with less, you will find yourself in situations where the ops managers, who have been employed to pressure you into cutting corners before they replace the DMMs, will be doing all they can to make sure the flawed system works. It is essential now more than ever that any defect, near miss and incident be properly recorded on the mandated documentation such as log books, form 500s and form 2000s. You will be pressured to not record things because these records will demonstrate that what has been implemented degrades air safety. You should continue to report on official paperwork anything out of the ordinary. Some examples being:

• An aircraft re-fueller who has commenced refueling without permission and in breach of Qantas policy should be halted immediately until you can establish that the area is safe, and then a form 500 completed.
• Any manual procedure that is flawed should be highlighted and then cleared to proceed with formal documentation such as an EA (not verbal advice) from Maintenance Watch/Technical services.
• If you require a wing walker, wait for one. If an ops manager comes out and tells you to push the plane, return to the office and fill out a form 2000 for a near miss then return to the aircraft and wait for your wing walker.
• A missing screw on a ballast you are changing, a form 500 is needed to highlight that a screw may be loose in the roof area.
• If tooling is not the same as stipulated in the maintenance manuals, do not improvise with unapproved tooling.
• Do not certify for work that you were not aware was being completed by unlicenced persons if you did not give them the necessary instructions before the job commenced.
• If you notice another LAME cutting corners, report them on appropriate forms. We will represent them and in most cases they will find adequate defence in the staffing shortages that are pressuring us to cut corners.
• If you need to take 5, take 5. If you are pressured into working this period, report the manager pressuring you.
• If a magic carpet needs a reset or any other quick fix or simple test is carried out, write up the work in the log books and enter it into Mxi.
• 
  
  YOUR job depends on proper reporting

We cannot express enough that the current environment is not only about our workmates who have recently been told they are no longer required. This is about you and your future because Qantas have been convinced that things can be done better by turning a blind eye. Qantas was made the safest airline in the world because we did care and the precise manner in which we have always operated should continue on an ongoing basis.
Steve Purvinas
Federal Secretary