Qantas stand down 20,000 employees till end of May
 

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/me...-network-cuts/

Ouch. Thoughts to all.

Not entirely correct, approx 20,000.

Apologies...still very bad. Mods please edit title.

How do contractors/qlink etc figure in all this?

That’s brutal. What’s the actual effect upon the pilot group. Does anyone know? I thought we had just copped it at VA (every one gets 7 days LWOP next roster and then we are all part time 50% after that) probably more to come with us then. We all realise over the years we’ve all had a ‘friendly rivalry’ amongst the different airlines at all levels whether GA, regional, domestic or international but I hope everyone looks out for everyone else at this time. I have mates, probably just like all of you, in Tiger, Jetstar, Qantas, Cathay, Brunei, the list goes on. This sort of thing can drive people into deep dark places. Again, just keep in touch and look out for each other.

^wot he said. Good luck everybody.

I really hope I am wrong but I fear this is only the beginning.

Only a coordinated world response will save us from a depression I fear.

And note the announcement says until “at least” the end of May 2020.

Sadly we have seen how well the world can coordinate a response to a crisis. If only the world had not been reluctant to offend China and to “put economies at risk”, we might not be facing this situation.

It has already started...I was 'downsized ' this week in the UK . Shame the government help will be too late for many in our profession.

I couldn’t agree with this more. Everyone will have different issues over the following months, my biggest concern is medium term job prospects, others will be highly mortgaged with many mouths to feed, we will all have something to offer someone struggling even if it’s only an ear.

Speaking with others outside the industry and they all seem to think it’s going to be ops normal for them, I’ve been trying to suggest to them that Aviaton has been hit first but it won’t only be us that’s affected.

I wonder what the rumoured “ unprecedented “ announcement President Trump is going to make on April 1 that will remain in place until April 10th and how it will effect the rest of the World’s global market ?

That’s it for the remaining 747’s. They’ll never fly again.

This! ^ ditto

What about the cargo flights using pax aircraft?

“Only a coordinated world response will save us from a depression I fear.”

Indeed although even a coordinated response probably won’t prevent it.

Corona is the pin that pricked the global bubble and I hope our respective governments and central bankers don’t get away blameless for the poor economic decisions they have been getting accustomed to making.

I have many good mates in QF, I hope things pan out for the best for all of us when the dust settles.

Fingers crossed.

Yeah good one mate, not the time for April fools rubbish

There will be a depression, the magnitude of which will depend on how long this goes on for. The aftermath will be similar to that experienced after a world war. Businesses will go broke and there will be personal bankrupcies. The USA and most western countries are up to their eyes in debt and lack the reserves required to fund a bailout.

However, similar to the recovery from a war, there will be opportunities for those in a position to take advantage of them. Construction companies and their suppliers had a field day rebuilding destroyed cities when WW2 ended for example. There will pent up demand in some sectors which will need to be met and a business strong enough to get through the current situation could be doing very well if most of their competition has gone to the wall.

Overall though, we are facing years of austerity as a result of this. Those close to retirement who have seen a massive drop in the value of their investmnents and now don't have time to wait for a recovery before stopping work will be particularly affected.

Exactly....

Some people in the finance industry are tipping that 20% of the total residential loans could default in Australia. When will a run on the banks start. France and Italy could be in a civil war, or massive civil unrest within 6 weeks.

Coordinated world response:

- Russia, China Europe and of course the USA, agree to bury the hatchet.

- Removal of sanctions on Russia, China, Iran, Syria, Cuba and Venezuela (that means telling the Israeli Government to ##@$ off and grow up.)

- Truce between India and Pakistan.

- Bring all troops home from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Europe and Asia.

- restart national and international infrastructure projects OBOR, Bering Straits bridge, Nordstream II, Mediterranean oil and gas, etc., etc.

- concerted International health efforts (already happening with researchers from day 1 - 31 Dec 2019.

- concerted IMF, BIS, world bank, ECB and national banks to provide liquidity and underwrite non performing loans.

_

From the media release,

But what of Fifi and her sisters?

What do you expect, society is built like a house of cards. We have next to no resilience. Most of us are mortgaged up to our eyeballs, merely a few pay cheques from bankruptcy. Great, isn't it?

If this isn't a wake up call that we need to change our ways, I don't know what is. Even when this is over, there will be another just around the corner.

Events of Sunday the 15th of August 1971 set in motion the debt train wreck that was always going to happen. The only problem was identifying the date of the accident with any accuracy.

Notice how the amount of debt (credits = money to the counterparty) outstripped production from not long after that date. We have lived in a debt as money world since 1971, the outcome was inevitable. We were ALL forced to play the game.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b7717b876.jpeg
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20130518...nflation-5.JPG

I bet you’re one of these idiots buying 400 rolls of toilet paper.

Network , Cobham - business as usual?

I wouldn’t be too worried about Qantas, all the directors took the option of swapping income for shares last week, just before they started making these announcements and asking the government for a bailout. Check out QAN on the ASX, all of the notices are there, made on 3 March

Finally, someone I can relate to who isn’t inside the matrix! Spot on, Nixon and his puppet masters pulled a stunt that ultimately would force most people away from the one thing the Fed can’t ‘fake’ - gold. Everything since then has been ‘fake’ wealth - printed money, paper bonds, algorithms on a PC. They don’t want gold as a currency because they can’t fully control it, manipulate it, fake it and so on. Metals are actually real. Sadly, the chickens have come home to roost. Interestingly when you study economics and finance you see a historical pattern where we have a ‘reset’ roughly every 40 years. The match on the current Ponzi scheme was lit in 1971 and its now a full blown inferno. COVID-19 is the straw that finally broke the camels back. The worlds economies have been failing/propped up/failing for years. Think about it - negative interest rates, quantitative easing (printing money), or even worse - digital money backed by nothing and printed on nothing. Fake money. The more they print the greater the eventual collapse. It has helped to destroy the middle class and cause inflation that is so high that you need to earn $150k per year upwards just to have a moderately comfortable existence. The 2008 GFC was the ‘precursor bubble’ - banks, financial institutions and corporations went bust. The big bubble, the real bubble has started to burst - bankrupt countries and we’ve already seen Greece, Spain, Portugal as examples. Now the only remaining and supposedly strong fiscal country Germany is deep in the crap, along with the UK and USA. The USA has a confirmed debt of $23 trillion with real estimates of up to $300 trillion. It was never going to last.

Hold onto your hats, this **** is about to get real.

Probably nothing.

Cos a) Trump couldn’t keep quiet about anything that long.

b) the world has moved on from US dominance

In relation to this issue I’d be more concerned about what Beijing is doing. Whether we like it or not Australia’s recovery from this recession will be because of our links with Beijing not Washington DC, despite how we feel about China at the moment.

Closed charter operators aren't affected; only RPT

Of the 20 000 employees that Qantas are letting go, I wonder how many are middle or senior level management...

If only they did Charter. RPT -> KG BRM LEA GEL KTA PHE DRW ASP NWN for Network alone. Ever wondered why those in the west kick up a stink?

One wonders if all 20,000 will be reemployed and all 20,000 will want to come back.

I guess I'm saying that this is the opportunity to downsize in the short and medium term. Will there ever be 30,000 employed by QF ever again?

We're not being 'let go', we're being stood down. Its not the same. We all remain employees of Qantas.

If this drags on for longer than the company has money however, that may change.

Sill Question, I know, but is that stood down without pay? Are there retainers or insurances that kick in?

Stood down without pay, however we're able to use annual leave to make up the difference. If you have less than a certain threshold, you're able to go into negative 4 weeks annual leave.

After that, you're on your own. They are rotating duties at JQ at least, apparently based on seniority. So one month you'll work, then next month another group will work. Etc.

Where’s John Andersen when he’s needed?

Coles are hiring 5000 Casuals, I understand Woolworths is putting its vacancies to anyone in the QF Group wishing to assist with the crazy demand seeing at Woolworths and Bigw etc. More on that next week apparently

I guess this will suit some, example Ground Crew or a Cabin Crew would earn similar to the Woolies casual rate. 20 odd hours a week would help put food on the table, paying the rent or whatever.

Plenty of twins around that can do that and be cheaper too.