Qf LAME EBA Negotiations Begin
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Newpiper
You could also argue that management/execs are also 90% wrong . Going by their track record ( poor fleet/route choices, price fixing etc) , it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume so. After all, if APA had of bought us out, pretty sure we wouldn't be talking about Qantas today.
You could also argue that management/execs are also 90% wrong . Going by their track record ( poor fleet/route choices, price fixing etc) , it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume so. After all, if APA had of bought us out, pretty sure we wouldn't be talking about Qantas today.
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Toolpants,
You may be right, there may be no other option. Reduced profitability is a bloody good excuse for more outsourcing however. It must be getting easier for management (yes we know they're b@stards) to pass that by shareholders.
Please don't try and tell me that any airline in the world would try and turn passengers away as you suggest. It doesn't wash. Nor does passing off the unions 'pre warning' of customers as some sort of community service, rather than an act of commercial sabotage. Isn't reducing profits the intent of industrial action? Why go so much further?
We all understand this situation isn't very cordial but I don't think I've seen a union tactic quite so inflammatory in quite some time.
I dare say I won't be popular for saying any of this but if I was watching this as a movie, I'd still be wondering where the good guys are...
You may be right, there may be no other option. Reduced profitability is a bloody good excuse for more outsourcing however. It must be getting easier for management (yes we know they're b@stards) to pass that by shareholders.
Please don't try and tell me that any airline in the world would try and turn passengers away as you suggest. It doesn't wash. Nor does passing off the unions 'pre warning' of customers as some sort of community service, rather than an act of commercial sabotage. Isn't reducing profits the intent of industrial action? Why go so much further?
We all understand this situation isn't very cordial but I don't think I've seen a union tactic quite so inflammatory in quite some time.
I dare say I won't be popular for saying any of this but if I was watching this as a movie, I'd still be wondering where the good guys are...
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“If I was a person considering travel over the period up until Christmas I’d probably be looking at airlines other than Qantas because it’s likely there will be some disruptions,” he said.
“If I was a passenger I wouldn’t be purchasing a ticket with them at this stage.” S.P
“If I was a passenger I wouldn’t be purchasing a ticket with them at this stage.” S.P
“Telling customers not to fly with Qantas for the next three months will make the jobs of our 1600 licensed engineers less secure and will not get the union any closer to an agreement.” Olivia Wirth
It is in fact YOU that is the only one to mention CUSTOMERS in general.
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Thanks for the heads up dudes. I have booked my families next trip on Jetstar - weren't many seats left but I guess JQ are going to make a killing out of all of this don't fly Qf business.
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That’s a bit silly hangarmba.
Where I work, Qantas Ramp (TWU) arrive and load the bags on JQ and Qantas LAME’s certify JQ.
You should have gone Virgin, they fly to Bali.
Where I work, Qantas Ramp (TWU) arrive and load the bags on JQ and Qantas LAME’s certify JQ.
You should have gone Virgin, they fly to Bali.
Come on, he booked Jetstar because there is no extra charges on baggage now thanks to the "QF group" management alienating another segment of their workforce! 4kg boogie boards to Bali are expensive otherwise.
But seriously, how how hard is it really? We ask for stuff that is ridiculous just like management do, then we sit down and DISCUSS everything and agree that some things need to be compromised, but right now all that Qantas management seems to do is say, "No, arghhh the unions have unreasonable demands (what like ensuring you don't constantly undercut or offshore our jobs), and they should come back to the negotiating table." ...... Um we never bloody left, the only problem is that the table keeps on getting off shored...
But seriously, how how hard is it really? We ask for stuff that is ridiculous just like management do, then we sit down and DISCUSS everything and agree that some things need to be compromised, but right now all that Qantas management seems to do is say, "No, arghhh the unions have unreasonable demands (what like ensuring you don't constantly undercut or offshore our jobs), and they should come back to the negotiating table." ...... Um we never bloody left, the only problem is that the table keeps on getting off shored...
Hmm, I don't need anyone to tell me that it's not a good idea to book a flight on Qantas, due to this industrial action I never will where there is an alternative because guess what, the pax actually have to be somewhere at a certain time and it's too much of a risk booking a flight with Qantas now or in the future if you actaully want to be assured that you can get on with your life rather than have things disrupted by a bunch of people who get paid **** loads more than most of us already.
Strike action is so out of date and just another nail in your beloved Labor party's coffin.
So, it's Virgin and Emirates for me from now on, seeyas!
Strike action is so out of date and just another nail in your beloved Labor party's coffin.
So, it's Virgin and Emirates for me from now on, seeyas!
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Clare Prop , I am sure you do not work Christmas day, Easter day, New Years Day etc and get to spend those special occasions with your family, unlike most of us LAMEs, Pilots and operational staff who work a 24hour 7 daya a week roster that does not stop for anyone. Our base Rate is well below any skilled labour work in Australia and the money is made up on penalty rates. If I call in sick on a sunday, my family will go without for that week or two. That is how tuff it is getting for most of us. Our EBA is outdated and needs a complete overhaul. All other major airlines pay their LAMEs a salary and not the ancient pay structure we are on.
As for Emirates and Virgin, they have the perfect Aircraft to fly over via the Middle East. Funny how great your product can be when you invest your money in a new fleet of 777s, A340s and A380s and not a repainted 747 Donkey and so called Management pay rises.
As for Emirates and Virgin, they have the perfect Aircraft to fly over via the Middle East. Funny how great your product can be when you invest your money in a new fleet of 777s, A340s and A380s and not a repainted 747 Donkey and so called Management pay rises.
Clare Prop, didn't cha listen to the news ?
The Qantas industrial action is spreading.. like a virus.. to dare I say it, the immaculate conception that is Jetstar
Qantas services cancelled as bans spread to Jetstar
But its a bonus for the traveling unwashed worker hater such as yourself, you'll be able to take 25kg without getting slugged an extra $100 for that extra couple of kilos.
The Qantas industrial action is spreading.. like a virus.. to dare I say it, the immaculate conception that is Jetstar
Qantas services cancelled as bans spread to Jetstar
But its a bonus for the traveling unwashed worker hater such as yourself, you'll be able to take 25kg without getting slugged an extra $100 for that extra couple of kilos.
Travelling and unwashed I may be, 600ft-lb if that is how you like to describe pilots. Whatever. I can fly myself around Australia but sometimes it is more convenient to sit in the back, but if I need to be somewhere then I can't be subjected to the whims of unions or management, I need a transport provider that gives the punters the product they have paid for...a journey to a destination.
My point being that gaining public sympathy even with people within the industry isn't happening.
And I have to say your attitude towards me as you assumed was just a stupid pax who deserves to be screwed over pretty much sums it up.
MEA332, I am self employed so have no concept of things like "weekends" and "christmas" or "penalty rates" they are just another working day to me and I'm sorry but I've never found them any more sacred than any other day of the week/year. We're all doing it tough in this industry, mate.
Good luck, I hope you are very very careful what you wish for.
My point being that gaining public sympathy even with people within the industry isn't happening.
And I have to say your attitude towards me as you assumed was just a stupid pax who deserves to be screwed over pretty much sums it up.
MEA332, I am self employed so have no concept of things like "weekends" and "christmas" or "penalty rates" they are just another working day to me and I'm sorry but I've never found them any more sacred than any other day of the week/year. We're all doing it tough in this industry, mate.
Good luck, I hope you are very very careful what you wish for.
Last edited by Clare Prop; 11th Oct 2011 at 16:33.
Clare prop:
No "Whims" are involved. The ALAEA is engaged in protected industrial action which is arranged, notified and published days in advance.
If you are too stupid to read the papers and do a little research before you make a booking then that's your problem.
Stop trying to paint the ALAEA as a bunch of Twentieth century Luddites. The days of wildcat strikes and workplace Communism are long gone.
but if I need to be somewhere then I can't be subjected to the whims of unions or management, I need a transport provider that gives the punters the product they have paid for...a journey to a destination.
If you are too stupid to read the papers and do a little research before you make a booking then that's your problem.
Stop trying to paint the ALAEA as a bunch of Twentieth century Luddites. The days of wildcat strikes and workplace Communism are long gone.
I am self employed so have no concept of things like "weekends" and "christmas" or "penalty rates" they are just another working day to me and I'm sorry but I've never found them any more sacred than any other day of the week/year. We're all doing it tough in this industry, mate.
have things disrupted by a bunch of people who get paid **** loads more than most of us already
Then to have fools like you talk utter **** about us, or journalists talk utter **** about how much I'm making... I'd love to make $170k. Fact is I don't. Fact is most of us don't.
But I have come to realise 1 thing in this whole dispute, people in general are gullible. If a so called 'trusted' source of information, ie the TV or that rag made from paper tells them something, they believe it. No questioning, no challenging of the information. It's accepted as gospel from the moment is passes through the visual cortex and is registered in the brain.
I also realise that Qantas knows this.
1+1 = people like you, who believe the bull**** without question and public opinion has therefore been swayed. They know you're a gullible pleb and you've been completely played for what you are.
Meanwhile the rest of us, who are actually doing the job and have been for years and year sit back in disbelief when fools like you make the comments you do and journalists like some discussed in here talk utter rubbish in front of millions of people, knowing full well the gravity of what they're saying and its effect of effectively brainwashing people through repetition.
Good luck, I hope you are very very careful what you wish for.
Yeah I'll be careful with that. Idiot.
And heres a link to enlighten yourself, not that I expect you to believe actual real facts http://www.fwa.gov.au/documents/agre...N085259566.pdf
QANTAS Engineers Dispute - Australian Editorial - A Response
Predictably, "The Australian" once again sides with the rich against the poor, the powerful against the weak and lovingly places its mouth at the service of its advertisers.
For starters, Steve Purvinas is indeed guilty - of stating the bleedin' obvious. If you are a punter considering flying anywhere at the moment; it is unwise to book a ticket on an airline in the middle of its self made industrial dispute. Given that only morons fly Qantas these days, I think Steve was probably right to remind them that a dispute was going on, since considering the low quality "Qantas experience" thanks to management cost cutting, passengers probably wouldn't notice.
The Australian then decides that the ALAEA is the reincarnation of the Waterside Workers Union: "Contempt for the company", "Industrial Thuggery", "Jeopardising the company's future" and of course the emotive "Rolling strikes". Really, that is enough to make me choke on my cornflakes.
Now lets get real. The ALAEA industrial campaign has been a model of good behaviour as is required these days by Fair Work Australia. The days of "out on the grass, brothers" are long gone. Each stop work meeting has been announced to the company days in advance, in writing, as is required by law.
What we are watching is not the old style "Gunfight at the OK Corral" type of industrial action, today its more like some form of stylised Kabuki play; a slow motion act of ritual statements, grunts and poses, all choreographed by the Fair Work Act. There are no surprises these days, no wildcat strikes and no walkouts. The decay of Qantas on time performance was predictable since the day the first advance notice of a stop work meeting was emailed to Qantas. Any discomfort to the traveling public is all Qantas managements own work - part of their plan to "win" the dispute.
The Australian conveniently fails to mention that negotiations over the Engineers EBA have been going on since October 1 2010 - that's right it's now over a year! My understanding is that Qantas made no offer at all during that time and simply sat across the table and said and did nothing, unless you call the persecution of Six Engineers who reported safety defects a constructive attempt at good faith negotiation.
So now Qantas Management get all upset and indignant that the long suffering engineers patience is finally exhausted? I think that the long suffering employees of Qantas, all of them, have far more cause to be indignant at the incompetent management and the studied contempt Qantas management shows for its staff.
How would you like it if your boss marched into your workplace and told you and your colleagues that he was thinking of outsourcing your jobs to China, and would let you know his decision in Three months? How would you like it when after crying poor and asking staff to sacrifice pay rises in the interests of the survival of the company which the employees dutifully did, management awarded itself mind bogglingly huge pay rises?
How would you like it if you witnessed the deliberate destruction of a national icon on the pretext of "Saving" it? How would you like it if you were told that you had no future as a "Legacy" airline employee and that you were to be discarded as soon as management had finished sucking the life out of you? How would you like it, as an Australian, if you were told that the Qantas future lay in Asia and that Australians, and Australian workers could go **** themselves? And finally, how would you like it when your bosses keep awarded themselves huge pay rises while telling you that you aren't even worth keeping, let alone maintaining the purchasing power of your wage?
Fair go for the flying kangaroo | The Australian
THE reckless irresponsibility of Qantas engineers and the Transport Workers Union in urging the public not to book seats with the airline between now and Christmas shows their contempt for a company that not only pays their wages but which is an integral part of the lives of Australians. Such industrial thuggery is jeopardising the airline's future in a competitive marketplace. Rolling strikes have already inconvenienced 46,500 passengers and are set to disrupt many more, forcing travellers to look elsewhere for transport or stay at home.
The enviable safety record of Qantas is vital and should remain a priority. However, that does not preclude some outsourcing of even highly skilled jobs, which is the issue at the heart of the current dispute. Airlines operate in a tough global marketplace and Qantas must have the flexibility to hire suitably qualified contract staff if doing so improves operational efficiency.
While the unions have every right to tough negotiation and appropriate action, they must also consider the travelling public and the long-term viability of the airline. If the Fair Work system is unable to resolve the issue, then the law needs to be reviewed. This ugly dispute is another reason why the bipartisan industrial policy of timidity should be abandoned. This week's Newspoll shows Labor's lead as the best party to handle industrial relations has fallen from 26 points to just four points since the last election.
Steve Purvinas, the federal secretary of the engineering union, showed how far the union had lost touch with the real world yesterday when he promised the strikes would stop on December 18 for Christmas but warned they could start again in January. In the meantime he promised a four-hour stoppage on Friday and full-day strikes from October 28. Then, with breathtaking cynicism, he preached that "Qantas shouldn't be taking passengers' money then getting them to their destinations late". The dispute is one of Australia's most bitter since the 1998 waterfront confrontation. As the unions and Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce dig in for the long haul the dispute is shaping as a litmus test of the nation's industrial relations system. Not only is the future of Australia's all-important flying kangaroo at stake, but so is the ability of companies to function efficiently and competitively in the modern world.
The enviable safety record of Qantas is vital and should remain a priority. However, that does not preclude some outsourcing of even highly skilled jobs, which is the issue at the heart of the current dispute. Airlines operate in a tough global marketplace and Qantas must have the flexibility to hire suitably qualified contract staff if doing so improves operational efficiency.
While the unions have every right to tough negotiation and appropriate action, they must also consider the travelling public and the long-term viability of the airline. If the Fair Work system is unable to resolve the issue, then the law needs to be reviewed. This ugly dispute is another reason why the bipartisan industrial policy of timidity should be abandoned. This week's Newspoll shows Labor's lead as the best party to handle industrial relations has fallen from 26 points to just four points since the last election.
Steve Purvinas, the federal secretary of the engineering union, showed how far the union had lost touch with the real world yesterday when he promised the strikes would stop on December 18 for Christmas but warned they could start again in January. In the meantime he promised a four-hour stoppage on Friday and full-day strikes from October 28. Then, with breathtaking cynicism, he preached that "Qantas shouldn't be taking passengers' money then getting them to their destinations late". The dispute is one of Australia's most bitter since the 1998 waterfront confrontation. As the unions and Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce dig in for the long haul the dispute is shaping as a litmus test of the nation's industrial relations system. Not only is the future of Australia's all-important flying kangaroo at stake, but so is the ability of companies to function efficiently and competitively in the modern world.
For starters, Steve Purvinas is indeed guilty - of stating the bleedin' obvious. If you are a punter considering flying anywhere at the moment; it is unwise to book a ticket on an airline in the middle of its self made industrial dispute. Given that only morons fly Qantas these days, I think Steve was probably right to remind them that a dispute was going on, since considering the low quality "Qantas experience" thanks to management cost cutting, passengers probably wouldn't notice.
The Australian then decides that the ALAEA is the reincarnation of the Waterside Workers Union: "Contempt for the company", "Industrial Thuggery", "Jeopardising the company's future" and of course the emotive "Rolling strikes". Really, that is enough to make me choke on my cornflakes.
Now lets get real. The ALAEA industrial campaign has been a model of good behaviour as is required these days by Fair Work Australia. The days of "out on the grass, brothers" are long gone. Each stop work meeting has been announced to the company days in advance, in writing, as is required by law.
What we are watching is not the old style "Gunfight at the OK Corral" type of industrial action, today its more like some form of stylised Kabuki play; a slow motion act of ritual statements, grunts and poses, all choreographed by the Fair Work Act. There are no surprises these days, no wildcat strikes and no walkouts. The decay of Qantas on time performance was predictable since the day the first advance notice of a stop work meeting was emailed to Qantas. Any discomfort to the traveling public is all Qantas managements own work - part of their plan to "win" the dispute.
The Australian conveniently fails to mention that negotiations over the Engineers EBA have been going on since October 1 2010 - that's right it's now over a year! My understanding is that Qantas made no offer at all during that time and simply sat across the table and said and did nothing, unless you call the persecution of Six Engineers who reported safety defects a constructive attempt at good faith negotiation.
So now Qantas Management get all upset and indignant that the long suffering engineers patience is finally exhausted? I think that the long suffering employees of Qantas, all of them, have far more cause to be indignant at the incompetent management and the studied contempt Qantas management shows for its staff.
How would you like it if your boss marched into your workplace and told you and your colleagues that he was thinking of outsourcing your jobs to China, and would let you know his decision in Three months? How would you like it when after crying poor and asking staff to sacrifice pay rises in the interests of the survival of the company which the employees dutifully did, management awarded itself mind bogglingly huge pay rises?
How would you like it if you witnessed the deliberate destruction of a national icon on the pretext of "Saving" it? How would you like it if you were told that you had no future as a "Legacy" airline employee and that you were to be discarded as soon as management had finished sucking the life out of you? How would you like it, as an Australian, if you were told that the Qantas future lay in Asia and that Australians, and Australian workers could go **** themselves? And finally, how would you like it when your bosses keep awarded themselves huge pay rises while telling you that you aren't even worth keeping, let alone maintaining the purchasing power of your wage?
Fair go for the flying kangaroo | The Australian
Last edited by Sunfish; 11th Oct 2011 at 18:01.
Meeting today?
Steve,
You mentioned in your e mail on monday that the company had been asked for a meeting today to negotiate,was a response received?,is there a meeting today or any day soon?
You mentioned in your e mail on monday that the company had been asked for a meeting today to negotiate,was a response received?,is there a meeting today or any day soon?
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Its not just "The Australian" that thinks differently from the unions.....
From e-Global Travel Media 12/10/11
"I know that I go on about this sometimes…OK quite often, but I am still stunned by the naivety and arrogance of the unions and some Qantas workers in continuing their pay and conditions demands, when the consensus of opinion from industry analyst is that Qantas as an Australian airline is dead.
Some media have called it a life or death struggle, but there is no doubt that this dispute is way past that with Qantas, as a traditional Australia legacy carrier, now a dead corpse on the floor, all CPR and shock treatment having failed, the time of death announced, the body is in the body bag and about the hauled away to the mortuary, with the body parts about to be taken and donated to another body – that is the Qantas to be based in Asia.
I do not get it that the unions and some workers can’t understand that no amount of CPR or in their case striking, is ever going to revive this corpse, with the unions and works needing to realise that they have performed Kamikaze on Qantas as they have known it and they have better get their applications in for flipping burgers, with the fat cat wages days they have enjoyed for too long have gone, no matter how long they strike – and they only have themselves to blame!
An interesting series of media coverage this week Alan Joyce, especially in News media, revealed some of the reasons why the future of Qantas lies in Asia through its new premium “Red Q” or “One Asia” airline, supported by low-cost Jetstar, which has already technically moved to Asia, with the new Qantas premium airline going to fly luxuriously appointed Airbus A320s out of a Singapore or Kuala Lumpur hub, at substantially lower costs that it would in Australia.
Joyce explained last week that the mathematics are very simple, with the high cost location of Australia, simply unsustainable when compared with Qantas’ lower-cost Middle East and Asian carriers competitors, so he simply had to do something or die!
He said that with only 19% of Australians now flying Qantas internationally, the airline cannot survive on labour costs that are 24% higher than its competitors, leading Qantas international to lose more than $200 million last year – as it struggles to compete on fares, making no sense whatsoever!
What would you do if your business was losing $200million a year and you could run it for a lot less elsewhere, with a lot less hassle and significantly greater productivity – I think we all know the answer – as they say, it is a no brainer!
Joyce also said that the issue is not just about pay, with Qantas pilots and engineers the highest paid in the world, but it is also about productivity, with for example, the airline getting about 480 hours a year of work out of their pilots, compared to Singapore Airlines and Emirates getting about 800 hours a year out of theirs, with pilots saying that it is all about safety, but both Emirates and Singapore have exemplary safety records and are run to the very highest international standards.
With Qantas A380 pilots being paid a tad over $380,000 a year, Joyce says there’s no shortage of applicants to be captains in Asia on $200,000 a year, with this another no brainer, with if these pilots are as good as Qantas pilots and as well trained, and there is no reason to believe they are not as they are the pilots flying the competing carriers’ aircraft, by the way Singapore Airlines trains their pilots right here on the Sunshine Coast, then why would you pay someone a salary twice as high as you need to?
Joyce also commented on licensed engineers and their current strikes, which are clearly designed to cause maximum disruption to passengers with by the way even this morning, Union leader Steve Purvinas advising passengers not to fly Qantas over the Christmas period because there will be strikes, with the strikes aimed at protecting job security, which Qantas says is based on unaffordable practices, suited to aircraft technology decades old, outdated, for new low maintenance aircraft.
Qantas quotes the example of the traditional “walk around” by a licensed engineer and the multi-point sight check on each aircraft after each flight, which is no longer needed for at least half of Qantas’ fleet, yet the engineers insist it remains in place, with Joyce saying that no other airline does it, adding that Qantas has the equivalent of fourteen licensed engineers per aircraft, while Qantas competitors average two engineers.
I liken this whole scenario between Qantas and the Unions and some Qantas staff, especially engineers and other staff, whose jobs are most certainly going to, as their continuing to hold desperately on to the life raft by their fingernails, while they can hear the air hissing loudly in their ears as the life raft slowly sinks in the water…………..as a sparkling white and red A380 with a new Red Q or One Asia logo on the tail circling overhead, reporting the life raft’s position to the authorities, with Joyce and his team on board the A380, as it levels out, increasing height majestically, disappearing into the clouds as the passengers are served a sumptuous dinner of glorious Peking Duck at a fraction of what it would cost in Australia – ah well!"
Industry Insider Commentary and Opinion by John Alwyn-Jones, Global Travel Media Special Correspondent
Like it or not folks, this is how much of the media sees it and thus how the public will see it.
From e-Global Travel Media 12/10/11
"I know that I go on about this sometimes…OK quite often, but I am still stunned by the naivety and arrogance of the unions and some Qantas workers in continuing their pay and conditions demands, when the consensus of opinion from industry analyst is that Qantas as an Australian airline is dead.
Some media have called it a life or death struggle, but there is no doubt that this dispute is way past that with Qantas, as a traditional Australia legacy carrier, now a dead corpse on the floor, all CPR and shock treatment having failed, the time of death announced, the body is in the body bag and about the hauled away to the mortuary, with the body parts about to be taken and donated to another body – that is the Qantas to be based in Asia.
I do not get it that the unions and some workers can’t understand that no amount of CPR or in their case striking, is ever going to revive this corpse, with the unions and works needing to realise that they have performed Kamikaze on Qantas as they have known it and they have better get their applications in for flipping burgers, with the fat cat wages days they have enjoyed for too long have gone, no matter how long they strike – and they only have themselves to blame!
An interesting series of media coverage this week Alan Joyce, especially in News media, revealed some of the reasons why the future of Qantas lies in Asia through its new premium “Red Q” or “One Asia” airline, supported by low-cost Jetstar, which has already technically moved to Asia, with the new Qantas premium airline going to fly luxuriously appointed Airbus A320s out of a Singapore or Kuala Lumpur hub, at substantially lower costs that it would in Australia.
Joyce explained last week that the mathematics are very simple, with the high cost location of Australia, simply unsustainable when compared with Qantas’ lower-cost Middle East and Asian carriers competitors, so he simply had to do something or die!
He said that with only 19% of Australians now flying Qantas internationally, the airline cannot survive on labour costs that are 24% higher than its competitors, leading Qantas international to lose more than $200 million last year – as it struggles to compete on fares, making no sense whatsoever!
What would you do if your business was losing $200million a year and you could run it for a lot less elsewhere, with a lot less hassle and significantly greater productivity – I think we all know the answer – as they say, it is a no brainer!
Joyce also said that the issue is not just about pay, with Qantas pilots and engineers the highest paid in the world, but it is also about productivity, with for example, the airline getting about 480 hours a year of work out of their pilots, compared to Singapore Airlines and Emirates getting about 800 hours a year out of theirs, with pilots saying that it is all about safety, but both Emirates and Singapore have exemplary safety records and are run to the very highest international standards.
With Qantas A380 pilots being paid a tad over $380,000 a year, Joyce says there’s no shortage of applicants to be captains in Asia on $200,000 a year, with this another no brainer, with if these pilots are as good as Qantas pilots and as well trained, and there is no reason to believe they are not as they are the pilots flying the competing carriers’ aircraft, by the way Singapore Airlines trains their pilots right here on the Sunshine Coast, then why would you pay someone a salary twice as high as you need to?
Joyce also commented on licensed engineers and their current strikes, which are clearly designed to cause maximum disruption to passengers with by the way even this morning, Union leader Steve Purvinas advising passengers not to fly Qantas over the Christmas period because there will be strikes, with the strikes aimed at protecting job security, which Qantas says is based on unaffordable practices, suited to aircraft technology decades old, outdated, for new low maintenance aircraft.
Qantas quotes the example of the traditional “walk around” by a licensed engineer and the multi-point sight check on each aircraft after each flight, which is no longer needed for at least half of Qantas’ fleet, yet the engineers insist it remains in place, with Joyce saying that no other airline does it, adding that Qantas has the equivalent of fourteen licensed engineers per aircraft, while Qantas competitors average two engineers.
I liken this whole scenario between Qantas and the Unions and some Qantas staff, especially engineers and other staff, whose jobs are most certainly going to, as their continuing to hold desperately on to the life raft by their fingernails, while they can hear the air hissing loudly in their ears as the life raft slowly sinks in the water…………..as a sparkling white and red A380 with a new Red Q or One Asia logo on the tail circling overhead, reporting the life raft’s position to the authorities, with Joyce and his team on board the A380, as it levels out, increasing height majestically, disappearing into the clouds as the passengers are served a sumptuous dinner of glorious Peking Duck at a fraction of what it would cost in Australia – ah well!"
Industry Insider Commentary and Opinion by John Alwyn-Jones, Global Travel Media Special Correspondent
Like it or not folks, this is how much of the media sees it and thus how the public will see it.