Qantas prepares staff for Christmas strikes

[air-hag]

Qantas prepares staff for Christmas strikes
News-Nerd, Wirraway, Nowhere to be Seen.

By Scott Rochfort
September 7, 2004

Qantas has started preparing its biggest strike-busting workforce since the late 1980s as it faces widespread industrial action from its 4000 international flight attendants over the Christmas holidays.

After already angering unions with its plans to set up a 400-strong London crew base next year, Qantas has started training hundreds of its non-flying employees at its Mascot headquarters.

Qantas declined to give details on the training program. But the airline's head of human resources, Kevin Brown, said: "Qantas has, for more than a decade, trained selected managers to undertake certain functions as part of its business continuity planning.

"These plans enable Qantas to protect the integrity of its operations and to provide its customers with reliable service under all circumstances."

Michael Mijatov, of the international arm of the Flight Attendants Association of Australia, said: "Our members and also other Qantas employees are advising us that Qantas is in the process of training non-cabin crew to man aircraft on the basis they are fearing industrial action at the end of the year."

The recent hiring of 150 cabin crew on fixed-term contracts and a change in rosters which will switch more domestic crews to international flights from November has heightened talk Qantas anticipates disruptions over the Christmas holidays.

At the heart of the dispute are Qantas's plans not to renew the existing cap of 370 overseas-based cabin crew when a three-year agreement with the association expires on December 18.

Aside from plans for the 400-strong London crew base, a Qantas document recently leaked to the press outlined the airline's aim to base 1000 cabin crew overseas to save costs.

Qantas plans to save $18 million in reduced hotel bills and meal allowances by basing 400 flight attendants in London. Qantassaid it would extend today's deadline for expressions of interest in the jobs.

The flight attendants are also angry at plans to switch domestic crews to its fleet of Airbus A330s servicing Hong Kong in November.

The domestic arm of the flight attendants association, which considers itself a separate union from the international one, has so far raised no objection to the new A330 rosters, noting international crews already fly on some domestic services.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ya slowing down Wirraway, old boy. Plenty of time to sleep when ya dead!!

[leemo]

But there will be huge disruptions, they don't have enough people to replace 4000 determined long haul crew.

[The Librarian]

That's what quite a few pilots said 15 years ago.

[Kaptin M]

And where are those FOUR airlines now, Librarian? ("Deceased" is the answer!)

I doubt that QANTAS would be stupid enough to risk a brawl - especially over the Xmas period.

Pax will simply book with another carrier, if there's even the sniff of a brawl that is likely to disrupt their travel plans.
There are PLENTY of other choices offering loads of capacity.

[OBNO]

Yep - You sure showed em Kap!

[Lodown]

Just stating my opinion - not a threat in any way. My family's booked international over Christmas over my concerns on Qantas. I don't care what issues the cabin crew have with management, it has taken considerable coercion by my wife to get me on Qantas this time. If our travel plans are disrupted, I'll never fly Qantas again. Or at least I won't own up to it.

[Kaptin M]

We didn't "show" them anything, OBNO.
The airlines involved demonstrated that if they decide to take on their work force, then they must also be prepared to lose, no matter how strong they believe they might be at the outset.

Any prolonged industrial disruption note only weakens the company internally by expending unnecessary financial "war chests", but leaves them weaker financially, to deal with the external attacks from competitors - it's not exactly rocket science.

You can bet that, already, passengers (some of them QF's "customers") will have made alternative bookings simply because of this QANTAS news release.

Is Dixon going to involve QANTAS in a confrontation that would likely end up costing multiple times the amount it saves?
Money spent on a "war", that should have been paid to shareholders as dividends, but has been horded away.

[Tunguska]

Not to mention the fact that alot of F/A's rely on those very handy allowances not spent overseas to bolster their pockets over the always expensive Xmas period.

I believe the bulk of F/A's dont have the financial stupidity to risk a protracted strike.
Add to that the fact that the airline probably has staff trained up to do the minimum legal job of F/A's as required by CASA - the evacuation of pax during an emergency.

[Wirraway]

Hag

Shock! Horror Hag that I was on the GC with my grand kids
without your permission and missed the report you have
been so good to post, maybe your right that I am getting
over the hill and should think about giving this away as
I don't come up to your standard.

Wirraway

Tues "The Australian"

Qantas still seeks crew for UK base
By Scott Rochfort
September 7, 2004

Qantas has extended its deadline for flight attendants applying for jobs at its contentious London crew base, prompting speculation the airline is struggling to find enough Australian crews to fill the 400 jobs on offer.

In the face of union opposition to its plans to base more jobs overseas, Qantas said it would give its Australia-based crews a "little bit of extra time" to consider the offer after today's deadline.

Just two weeks after Qantas said 90 to 100 crew had lodged applications, the airline's head of customer services, Lesley Grant, said: "There are still a few steps to go, the base doesn't start operating until mid-2005 but we are pleased with the progress and satisfied with the interest shown so far."

When the offer expires, Qantas says it will hire UK residents to fill any shortfall.

The Flight Attendants Association's international arm said the offer equated to a 20 to 31 per cent pay cut, given crews would be required to work up to 240 hours for every eight-week roster period, up from the present 180-odd hours.

Under the offer, Qantas flight attendants moving to London will get a £12,220 ($31,330) base salary, an estimated £4000 in "sector pay", £580 in allowances and a £7250 annualised lump sum, for a total of £24,422 a year.

Despite Qantas already arguing a 30-hour working week for cabin crews was not unreasonable, the airline's website notes: "Working at high altitude in a pressurised cabin for hours on end can be quite exhausting.

"Add to this the unbalancing effects of odd sign-on times, flying through different time zones and climatic conditions at stopovers and you will see how tiredness can be a major factor in a crew member's life."

Qantas has also indicated it is looking to raise fares, just two weeks after increasing its one-way fuel surcharge on domestic flights to $10 and on international flights to $22.

Bloomberg quoted the airline's head of sales, Rob Gurney, saying Qantas was "seeking to recover or offset the cost increase" in the price of oil by lifting airfares.

Yet despite oil prices still hovering above $US45 a barrel, some analysts have already noted the airline is making a profit from its surcharge, given all its fuel contracts are hedged at about $US32 a barrel until December 31.

============================================
crikey.com.au

More staff troubles for Qantas
Pemberton Strong
Aviation correspondent
07 September 2004

Qantas shareholders meet in Brisbane late next month and will no doubt hear the usual litany of gloom, doom and we'll be 'rooned' from chairman 'Dame' Margaret Jackson and CEO Geoff Dixon.

They may also hear a few more word about the 35,000 staff, but will they hear any frank discussion of the result: that the airline did well, really well, and will do more in the coming year, all things being equal?

Don't hold your breath. The airline is going into defensive mode, according to a Qantas insider. "With the proposed London base (49 have signed up for 480 slots) and the expected industrial troubles with the international cabin crew at Christmas, the "black widow" (otherwise known as Lesley Grant GM customer service) has moved domestic crew to all regional flying on Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 767 (Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo) from October onwards. At the same time she offers leave without pay to international crew. In addition she has trained 700 strike breakers on fixed term contracts (in addition to office staff) for 10 month.

Would not suggest to anyone to book/fly Qantas international around Christmas. It is going to get ugly one way or another. A point confirmed in today's Sydney Morning Herald .

Also John Borghetti and the black widow put out a staff survey trying to figure out what Qantas staff thinks of their management and working conditions. Only 20% replied which is a great slap in the face of John and Lesley.

At any other company the alarm bells would go off but in true fashion more negative feedback from staff gets ignored and covered up. In trying to keep word to cut another $500 million this year from the bottom line Geoff's all new galaxy domestic service is in place. Read the announcement here.

And what a fiasco it is. If you watch the poor flight attendants standing in the aisles and assembling a meal in business class (don’t sit at the rear of business class as you only have two minutes to eat the meal before the city flyer goes on descent), and running in tandem in economy.

This little pumpkin flew 3 times last week in coach at the rear and did not get whatever it was meant to be (a tray but no drink as they run out of time).

However I was told by flight attendants of the new service and its pitfalls, but the savings to Geoff is $6 million a year. Does not matter what the outcome is for customers.

Geoff told his staff that due to changes to international accounting standards he cannot issue shares to staff but a bonus instead. Funny enough he got both (and plenty of it).

And I do agree the arrogance in which Qantas management treats its customers, and staff will backfire sooner then later.

Meanwhile, Great words about the flying rat, the new nickname by its employees, in reference to Geoff, Margaret and the ever increasing management layers in Qantas and there ever increasing lies and sad tail stories!

At the annual results, there where actually two presentations. One for the public and as you have correctly pointed out the usual sad Qantas story. In a private meeting for fund managers afterwards Margaret assured the brokers this coming year is going to be as good if not more profitable then the current figures.

Jetstar was an existing airline all they had to do is paint the planes and setup a new booking and marketing system. No, but since the flying rat is run by marketing they had to spend $18 million on ads,etc. Very little on the operational side.

My belief is they have set aside $100 million to subsidize (by using Qantas resources like legal, operational, human resources etc.) it to go every where Virgin is going (manipulate the figures so it looks like they are always making profits). The idea is to squeeze Virgin and by next year Jetstar will fly the same routes as Virgin to keep the Chris Corrigan controlled airline under control.

The ongoing myth of Qantas staff being expensive. Compared to ALL major competitors (Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, United) Qantas staff are inexpensive. Pilots, cabin crew and ground staff are cheaper then any of the above airlines. If you look at the annual report the flying rat Qantas, not its other subsidiaries, have increased management by 20%.Cabin crew had a redundancy where 10% left and had until now not been replaced. Funny the airline has not really expended since 9/11. If anything they have pulled out from Rome and soon Paris. As Geoff and his mates put all there eggs in two major baskets London and Los Angeles one can only hope nothing goes wrong there.

Crikey: Plenty there for any shareholder going to the AGM in Brisbane on October 21.

==========================================

[Left2primary]

Lodown,
Im sorry to hear that you are your family are booked with QF over the Christmas period.
May I suggest that you do WHATEVER you can to rebook with another carrier.

Geoff Dixon has receintly announced the largest profit in the Qantas's history at the same time as he is pursuing a massive attack on the pay and conditions of his front line staff.

His AUD $1.6 million dollar performance bonus is dependant on him screwing anyone one he can, save his fellow executive managers.

As a longhaul flight attendant I can tell you that we are united in our desire to resist the attacks being levelled at us.

We operate a 744 with 15 crew.
Any less than 12 and a fully laden 744 goes NOWHERE.

Geoff Dixon's rampant greed stands to cause massive disruptions to those booked with QF over the holiday period.

You have been warned.

L2P - "lets screw the roo"

[leemo]

The Librarian - that was 15 years ago. We have protected industrial dispute periods now. We will follow the rules below and the company cannot sack or discipline is in any way.

From the Office of the Employment Advocate (OEA)

The OEA notes that under the Workplace Relations Act 1996, employees have only a limited right to take industrial action.

Can employees ever lawfully take industrial action?

Yes, but only when it fits all of these rules:

• it happens during a properly notified bargaining period (which starts seven days after one party notifies the other and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) that it intends to seek to reach a certified agreement);
• there has been a genuine attempt to reach agreement before the action is taken; and
• the employer gets 3 (three) working days’ written notice of the proposed industrial action.

This is called "protected" industrial action.

If an employer is bargaining with employees and unable to reach agreement, the employer can apply to the AIRC to suspend or terminate the bargaining period. If the employer is successful, that puts an end to the protected status of the industrial action. In making its decision the AIRC will consider whether the employer has been trying to seek agreement in good faith.

What action can an employer take during a bargaining period

An employer can lock out its workers and stop them from working if:

• the lockout occurs during a properly notified bargaining period;
• there has been a genuine attempt to reach agreement;and
• the employer gives written notice to each party with whom it is negotiating – so if there is more than one union involved the employer must give the notice to each union – that it will be locking the gate/telling them to go home.

The employer must give 3 clear working days notice unless the lock out is in response to the union/s industrial action.

Can an employer sack employees who take industrial action?

It is against the law for employers to dismiss an employee if they are taking protected industrial action.

An employer must still follow the normal procedures to dismiss someone who is incompetent, or for taking illegal and unprotected industrial action. There is no short cut just because they may have broken the law.

Does an employer have to pay its employees when they take industrial action?

It is against the law to :

• pay any employee who has taken industrial action;
• do a deal whereby they get paid for work they haven’t done;
• agree to pay them as part of settling a dispute; and
• for an employee to accept payment for industrial action

What is industrial action?

It’s when employees do something which restricts, limits or delays their work, such as imposing go-slows or work to rule bans –not only when they walk off the job.

[gaunty]

Worry not Wirraway :ok:

I think our friend air-hag lives in a parallel universe that apparently "sees" things before we do in ours. :E

He's seems quite harmless, although he does appear to possess some very serious powers and perhaps should not be messed with in this particular universe.:p

Well the family are booked and paid for, on everywhere from Brisbane, Boston, New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Bali, but not QF except for the last Bali Perth sector week after Chrissy.

On the matter of QF strikes, I have to give them a seriously BIG thank you for "facilitating" the unplanned conception of my youngest child and only son, now a 6'4", 21 yr old.:} :cool:
When you're stuck in a tropical paradise for an extra 10 days all expenses paid by QF, then one must do what one must do indeed eh?:E

I'm a bit partial to the odd strike or two now.;)

[The Enema Bandit]

They won’t go on strike. They’ll all pull sickies so that flights are disrupted. And it still won’t get them anywhere.

[Left2primary]

teb,
you speak with such authority.........I'm impressed.
Wont "they"......................?
L2P

[mmmbop]

Hey L2P

Your comments regarding Dixon, QF record profits and attacks on employee salaries display just how unknowledgeable you are on the workings of a corporate entity - maybe you would feel more comfortable back in the gravy days of Government ownership.

Go cry your river to the 7000 Alitalia and 7000 Delta staff(and reportedly another 6000 UA staff)- they would be able to share with just how 'hard done' by you are. Right now, they would be giving anything for their respective airline to be run by Dixon et al.

Just run it by me again how $80K+, flying long haul with loads of time off at home just happens to be such a bad deal.....

Especially for a job that requires no formal education. What was the quote i heard recently...."3 days to legally train a flight attendant."......

Oh hang - on it just dawned on me as I wrote those numbers...no longer will you be capable of that sort of a figure cos you won't be flying to Europe anymore. No overtime and no allowances to save by sitting in your hotel room.......

Stop deluding yourself.

[leftfrontside]

L2P

You delude yourself, I rarely fly QF and only when there's no other option both domestically and internationally.

That is because of the staff attitude of you and your lot towards the "freight" -- your customers who effectively pay your salary.

Service is definitely not in the itinerary of QF attendants, so why don't you take a hike and let people who want to do the job as it should be done step in.

If you need some yardstick to measure your meagre attempt at how it can and should be done I suggest you take a flight with say CX, MH, BA, SQ they leave you lot in the stoneage. :ok:

lfs

[str]

mmmbop

You Stop deluding yourself.

When QF are in financial trouble i.e. Delta, United, Alitalia then QF staff would be prepared to accept cut backs.

QF are the most profitable airline in the world and 4000 flight attendants will not sit back and let Dixon screw us again.

This time we mean business. When planes are grounded all over the world it will be managements fault, not ours.

leftfrontside

Why not write to Dixon [email protected] and ask him why QF have 7 fewer crew on board than SIA? They actually earn more than we do, but I can guarantee his reply would be that QF crew get paid too much.

Believe me if we had an extra 7 crew on board we could offer the same kind of service as the Asian carriers.

[oicur12]

"QF are the most profitable airline in the world".

No they are not.

What other spin have you fallen for?

oops, having re-read your post I found there is plenty more spin you have fallen for.

" . . SIA? They actually earn more than we do."

No they do not.

Please arm yourself with the facts before stepping into the abyss of industrial action.

[Uncommon Sense]

Qantas Cabin Crew:

You have my total support.

Anybody who has worked at the rat for more than 15 years can see what it has become and only shake their head at what it once was and could have been.

Taking it any further in it's current direction for the sole glory of executive bonuses based on a convincing show for 20-something funds managers will see it past the point of no return.

Service is always the key in a service industry. Something Dixon et al will not hear of. To them it is a personal cash cow until it is time to parachute out.

Good luck.

[Left2primary]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmbop and leftfrontside,

my appologies.
I was going to reply but ...................... you know what ?...........................I cant be bothered.

L2P

[air-hag]

I think that's for the best r-eel-ly............... :eek:

"let's screw the roo" what sort of blue-collar agro attitude is that. sounds like Qwantas would be better off levering you out slowly and painlessly.

[Left2primary]

airhag,
thanks for that.....................
L2P

[Pinky the pilot]

oicur12; Re your post rebutting str's claims.
Whilst casting no aspersions upon your statements, I really would like to see some evidence, ie actual figures to back up your claims.

You only live twice. Once when
you're born. Once when
you've looked death in the face.

[mmmbop]

L2P,

...................... you know what ?...........................I cant be bothered.

No need to tell me that - I knew it the second you mentioned you were cabin crew.

str
....SIA? They actually earn more than we do....
What a gem. This merely proves my point on just how delusional you are. The pity is, it seems you belong to that minority, a core group that give the rest of QF CC such a bad name. Please, if the grass is so much greener, why don't you head off to SIA and earn more than you do now.

[Left2primary]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmbop,

just like at work then, isnt it??


L2P

[Romeo Tango Alpha]

AIR HAG! I am impressed!

You paid £5 a word to have "The Perfect Troll" as your name. Now, don't go and get banned, or that'll be £15 wasted mate.

I have no comment one way or the other re QANTAS this time, except to say I'll HAPPILY add a new list to my LISTS of names should QANTAS send in FA scabs.

[str]

oicur12 - so who is the most profitable airline in the world?

Interesting article on crikey.com.au - this is just a small part of the clip :

The ongoing myth of Qantas staff being expensive. Compared to ALL major competitors (Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, United) Qantas staff are inexpensive. Pilots, cabin crew and ground staff are cheaper then any of the above airlines. If you look at the annual report the flying rat Qantas, not its other subsidiaries, have increased management by 20%.Cabin crew had a redundancy where 10% left and had until now not been replaced. Funny the airline has not really expended since 9/11. If anything they have pulled out from Rome and soon Paris. As Geoff and his mates put all there eggs in two major baskets London and Los Angeles one can only hope nothing goes wrong there.

[Ultralights]

I am so happy i no longer work for them. after nearly 100 sick days, i was assured of a spot on the top of the list to get the money and run!


and still, 2 yrs later, i still get calls asking if i want my Job back! :ok:


the James/geoff days have most definatly been the worst for staff. :mad:

but i still can see Geoffs side of things, even though QF is profitable, they are still competing with governemnt owned and subsidised airlines. :suspect:

[Seaeagle109]

QF F/A's, is this going to only be a long haul fight over Christmas or are the domestic F/A's getting involved too?

Just wondering if I have to change my Christmas holiday bookings.

[Zapatas Blood]

oic etc - Qantas for 2003 probably was one of the most profitable airlines in the world but when viewed across the past 5 years (and probably the next couple) it has not been as good a performer as EK,SQ and CX. The impact of Ansett falling over will only go so far.

str - SQ FA (and CX similar) take home total about 4000 sing per month, thats about 3400 oz.

[Orville]

The number of cabin crew is limited by the number of crew rest positions onboard the aircraft. So you see until they reconfigure the aircraft by offloading paying passengers to allow for more space for crew rest facilities then it won't happen.

You say what's the crew rest facilities got to do with crew numbers, well Qantas crews spend most of the flight there so it should be pretty obvious. No offence meant to the Asian staff crewing Qantas flt's they are the only crew giving any decent service.

[The Enema Bandit]

As part of their industrial action, I heard they are going to say they will go on strike on a certain day and actually won’t and they’ll turn up for work along with all of their “replacements”.

[Left2primary]

Orville,

bullsh@t and more bullsh@t.

L2P

[capt.cynical]

Thanks Orville;
Now be a good boy and get back under your rock!!
:mad: :yuk:

[FatEric]

STR

Crikey.com is not a source of news worth looking at. I know a lot of 777 skippers in singapore who would be most interested to learn that they are paid more then QF. The effohs in singapore are mostly paid considerably less than Qantas. SIngcargo does not even compare. As for ramp handlers - you have got to be kidding. If baggies in Qantas get anywhere near what baggies at Ansett were paid then they leave baggies in Asia for dead.

Lets compare apples with apples.

[capt.cynical]

:(
Metro , please join "Orville" in the place above ! :mad:

[Orville]

Metro, welcome.

Looking from under my rock I see alot of scared cabin crew, who are worrying how far this might go, everyone wants to voice their collective grievances, but when they have to individually ring in sick or refuse to come to work because of an industrial stand then watch them turn to water. Just watch who is not on duty on the days when the crunch comes.

And for your info Left2 Primary, is a CSM (Chief Sandwich Maker)on a Qantas 747 Stationed at door 2 left. or is it FSD ( Flt. Service Director) Who can keep up with all the name changes.............. Manager, etc.

If anybody is responsible for the poor service on Qantas flts it is these people, they don't manage to well.

[itchybum]

I thought L2 is meant to be an exit only??? :confused:

Unless you're a so-called peanut-pusher?? That's a bit gross........:yuk:

[itchybum]

Well I don't know. You'd have to ask him. I'm sure it means he throws peanuts around the cabin??? Like Biscuit chucker?? But who knows. These FAs are colourful people. Anything goes. Especially on Oxford St.... (so I hear)

Wasn't there a 737 pilot named L2?

[itchybum]

Not exactly. It comes from a term for those now referred to as Native Americans. I believe it is no longer considered acceptable in everyday use. A bit like "redskin".

[Metro Boy]

L2P, please accept my apologies. Your psuedonym just happens to coincide with another meaning that I naively related to The Enema Bandit. Sorry.

[Angle of Attack]

Quote
"This time we mean business. When planes are grounded all over the world it will be managements fault, not ours."

Your dreaming! You mean when the cabin crew are grounded all over the world! They'd get the pilots to fly them back empty then crew them up in australia, then all the cabin crew would have to make their own way back home!

All I say is bring on the Emirates, Singair, JAL, Cathay, BA chicks! Lets take them on! Oh I forgot KLM chicks yeah......;)

[Chimbu chuckles]

Clearly idiot journo Rochfort has not done a lot of travelling.

12200 odd pounds does NOT equate to A$31k odd unless you bring it to Australia.

Given the cost of living in the UK that 24000 pound 'package' more closely equates to a total package of A$24k.

You cannot compare pay this way...a big mac costs 5 pounds in the UK and $5 in Australia....and everything else has a broadly similar relationship...some things are much more expensive in the UK.

This is either ignorant reporting or cynical acceptance of the line fed to him by QF.

If ever there was an example of just how greedy, dishonest and cynical modern 'management' are this is it.

[gaunty]

Chuckles hola mi amigo cómo es usted. :ok:

The gaunty Princess Amy, currently lives and works in London, (doing the 2 year working holls thing) try GBP100 $AUD 240 per week for her share of the rent of a telephone box studio in Kensington, etcetera, etcetera.

Her income is around GBP 20,000 pa GBP380 0, $AUD48,000 pa gross. After rent food, tube, utilities, pint once a week.......

Big Macca ????????/ Loooxury, 'ole in road,

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you.


But it's true. :( :{

[Kaptin M]

...lookshurey...sheer bludey lookshurey...dance on our graves???
Me Muvver and Faver never had legs...let alone voicebox to sing......:}

[FBD]

Quote

"You cannot compare pay this way...a big mac costs 5 pounds in the UK and $5 in Australia....and everything else has a broadly similar relationship...some things are much more expensive in the UK."

Clearly idiot journo Chimbu has not done a lot of travelling - a Big Mac costs £1.99 in the UK.

£24k is a liveable salary in the UK...and the international service I have received from Qantas certainly makes me think they don't deserve a pound more!

If the standard of service was lifted and the arrogance lost, I doubt people would call the "glorified waitresses" overpaid...

[Douglas Mcdonnell]

Soundas like a good way to pension off the oldies. The make up companies will be the big loosers.

DM