Merged: QANTAS/ALAEA EBA

[qantascampaign]

Geoff Entertainment

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=e9A8vKhx8bQ

[QF94]

FOD Program

I like the new FOD (F*** Off Dixon) program!!

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=TQQHX0...eature=related

[108vu]

I saw an interesting thing early this morning at tulla. I'm not a qf employee but at about 0200 I had to go and retrieve some non qf ground equipment from the C10 area. Over on an adjacent bay there was half a dozen people standing round the nose gear of a 767, pointing, looking etc, to us it looked like they were recieving instruction. (transits?) One of the group quickly broke away and came striding towards us full of purpose. He was security, had one of those vests. We all thought this is unusual! When he realised that we had nothing to do with qf and had every right to be there he stopped and stood off watching, waiting for us to go.
Midnight training sessions at tulla??
Watch your backs, don't underestimate the clowns.

[opalops]

Docked 4 Hours Pay

Question : Can you be docked 4 hours pay for refusing overtime even thougt you have worked your normal shift, I thought that this would be illegal. If so go seek legal advice and start threatening to sue the
bast, even send letters from solicitors just to scare,GOOD ONYA BOYS

[Sunfish]

I'm puzzled about a few things.......

MESSAGE TO STAFF FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

The ALAEA, the Union representing 1,500 staff in Qantas Engineering, has decided to escalate its industrial action against the company with rolling stoppages across Australia today and tomorrow.

The action will further impact our customers and put an additional load on many staff. It is also, unfortunately, typical of a Union which at the time of announcing the stoppages made the nonsensical claim that the main impact would be to inconvenience “people in the planning departments” rather than passengers!

Since when has Qantas Management, and especially you, cared about Passengers? You have publicly stated that all you care about is Shareholders...And what could possibly inform your new found concern for the workload of your staff at the coalface? Is the Leopard changing it's spots?

Let there be no doubt. This action will impact passengers, it will impact Qantas and it only adds to the pressure to restructure Qantas in the face of the soaring fuel costs that have changed the industry forever.

All airlines, full service and low cost, are cutting capacity, raising fares, restructuring many areas of their business and laying off staff. The latest example is Air Canada, which has announced 2,000 redundancies and a 7 per cent reduction in capacity.

True, and whatever the outcome of the LAME EBA process, Qantas will restructure exactly like the other airlines, won't it?

Qantas is better positioned than many airlines to handle the latest crisis in the industry. Our strong balance sheet is a result of sustained efficiency gains over the past 10 years, investment in new aircraft and product and successfully defending and broadening our key markets.

But no airline, no matter how strong, can survive the fuel increases without significant restructuring. For Qantas these increases alone in 2008/09 will substantially exceed the total projected profit for the current 2007/08 financial year.

So it is critical for our future success that we retain control of our costs. This, in part, means we will stand firm against efforts to break a wages policy that has delivered fair annual increases and growth in jobs in an industry that has been downsizing employment for over a decade.

Exactly how were efficiency gains made and are they sustainable? Didn't the sudden demise of Ansett hand you profits and efficiencies on a platter? Do you really believe that the Qantas product stacks up against Emirates and Singapore offerings, especially for economy passengers? How has Qantas defended it's market except by lobbying the Federal Government to freeze out much needed competition in the International segment? How is Qantas in control of costs when it awards it's senior management massive pay rises every year while keeping it's staff wage increases lower than the inflation rate? By the way, is that fair?

Furthermore, if the price of oil were to fall by $50.00 (as some say it will, when the speculative bubble finally bursts), would you immediately award your employees a pay rise and cease restructuring? I don't think so.

Our wages policy and our stand against the untimely demands of the ALAEA received total support from the Qantas Board at its strategic planning meeting last week in New York.

The Board emphasised the need, in light of the higher cost base, for restructuring to accelerate.

I'm glad that the Board is united. Was anyone at the Board meeting impolite enough to suggest that if the demands of the ALAEA are untimely, isn't it because you refused to negotiate for Eighteen months? We know that you are going to restructure, you aren't suggesting that if the ALAEA accepted your 3% offer that you won't? Aren't you going to raise fares as well, just like other airlines?

We will hold a series of staff roadshows next month. These forums will provide more information on future activities and enable staff to question and provide input.

Since when did Qantas value the input of it's staff into management matters? By all accounts here, the staff are the last people to be recognised, let alone valued. They are simply part of the "cost base" aren't they?. What will your roadshows do except spread more fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) among your already demoralised and disengaged workforce? Or is that their real purpose?

Please explain?

Sunfish.

[blurter8]

A roadshow, you have got to be kidding! Somebody please arrange for a DETOUR sign to be erected immediately.

[dr skydrol]

Foreign Operator Contracts
Does it really matter who authorised it ? Another great decision in the list of many from QE management.What these short sighted idiots don't realise they were subsidising QF's maintenence. Tens of millions of dollars thrown away.They've kicked an own goal I reckon.
Share price closed $3.03 yesterday and falling !
Our Cheif has kicked every employee in the nuts with his comments. Why don't you just retrench us all and the shareholders can come in and work for you if you think we are so useless. Wake up board rid us of this self serving dictator. I used to be so proud of this company and not my union.
Now I am a proud ALAEA member and work for a company in peril. So this is the thanks we get (engineering) for giving this company its brand name. I can't remember the 'rain man' wanting to fly on QF because of the management. Will the name ever recover. Not with this current management.

[UPPERLOBE]

Last year I watched the FOG pass through the hangar at Longreach, I could almost see the ghost of AB turning his back.

Unfortunately, Qantas has no "Spirit" anymore, probably the last fifteen years. This has been coming for some time and the point was made loud and clear by the bowtied one that QANTAS is a brand + the board & himself and that's it.

[magoo31]

Could someone please PM me the scab list.

As someone who told them to shove the 100K, I'd love to see the type of person from my former "workmates" who would stoop that low.

Sometimes I wish I was still there just to be involved in the PIA.

I'm yet to meet a traveller who doesn't sympathise with the cause of the LAME's.

I even had someone sitting next to me in BDT reading the paper and commenting how full of sh1t GD was.

I had to chuckle.

Even the travelling public can see through the rhetoric.

Maintain the rage

Thanks

[dr skydrol]

Just dropped the kids at school. On the way listening to today FM Kyle was telling G Fenech he was flying up after work to watch fight. Geoff warned him to check his flight if he was travelling on QF as lots of cancellations. I guess there won't be much of a share price soon to share. All over 2% .
BUGGERY- intercourse via the anus,committed by a man with a man or a woman. Still illegal in this country I think.
Uniform store now issuing leather chaps for all QF personal. Sorry management I'm not that way inclined. I LIKE BIG TITS !

[The Black Panther]

Mr Dixon said he had the full support of the Qantas board on the issue.

Is this the same board that recommended the Equity partners buyout offer?

Reality check GD.
95% of engineering staff are totally disengaged and estranged. Efficiency level, near zero. Likelihood to improve after dispute is over, near zero. Estimated recovery in efficiencies +5years minimum (not likely while current QE management remain in place)

Maintenance redundancies, scab force, overseas maintenance etc. Very costly while this occurs the budget is being eroded by basically two maintenance bills. Contingencies to remote MRO's cost fuel to get there, no revenue from ferry flights and inevitably cost more time and resources to get the aircraft back to a standard that operating pilots and our regulator requires. The outcome- a very inefficient use of resources and a bad result on the income statement under expenses.

The customers. It's very well for GD to say "we're not budging" but what about the customers. They pay to be transported from A to B at this time. Tell your customers this dispute will last months not days. See how long they stay around. Just as Ansett was Qantas's savior so could Qantas be Virgin's savior.

The politicians. Since Qantas is now a commercial airline it is unlikely we would see the essentials services bill exercised however the government would likely exercise the "Open Skies" policy.

The Shareholders: Once again how long will shareholders stay around with funds in a company that has disengaged it's work force. TWU union EBA is approaching as is long haul crew. Guess what? Fuel, electricity and mortgages aren't going back and all workers will demand a FAIR AND REASONABLE PAY RISE.

The options:
1. Dig your heels in and use the "We'll all be doomed if we pay our workforce a reasonable wage"....[while we are gluttonous with our own rewards].
Possible outcome:
1. Qantas wins over the workers and only pays them 3%. Workers return to work and gladly work overtime and get the company back to providing A level service and engineering efficiencies. Likelihood (1%)

2. Union and Qantas find middle ground after some time [with arbitrator intervention] both with a bad resentment. Likelihood (20%)

3. The disputes drags on for months. World Youth days arrives with the airline almost collapsing under the pressure of heavy load bookings for this event. TWU EBA arrives and demand 5%. Qantas starts another stoush. More disruptions for customers. Share price falls below $2.90. [The shares price is now in takeover territory however government policy will likely save it's ar#s] July goes by and the engineers continue to just work there normal required hours and the Olympics arrive. Qantas crumbles in and GD is disposed by institutional investors and substantial share holders. On the 1st August engineers lift overtime bans as do the TWU. GD is gone along a long list of management. The investors have spoken and now the repair process begins (Likelihood 79%). Oh so slowly.

Qantas engineering will never be the same. A career in aircraft maintenance engineering in Australia has been dismantled by one man. One man who failed to see the consequences of his tunnel vision attitude toward shareholders. One who disregarded the value of his workers and one who failed to respect the customers for without a product and without customers shareholders tend look for other investments. We are not a bank. We are a brand and without brand equity we are dead.

[UPPERLOBE]

Qantas shares opened on the ASX today at $3.03, exactly half what it was 52 weeks ago, ie, $6.06.

[ejectx3]

In a letter to staff yesterday, Mr Dixon said the Qantas board had met in New York last week and urged executives to hold the line against the "untimely" demands of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association.

How is it possible the board cannot see that a wage claim to try to catch up with cost of living is not by any means unreasonable especially given the increases that upper managament have received in the last 8 years?

FOG FOD FOG FOG FOD

[Sunfish]

Just found an interesting quote from Lord Chesterfield that sort of sums up the situation quite well I think:

There is nothing that people bear more impatiently, or forgive less, than contempt: and an injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.

[Torque It Up !!]

More work Offshore!!

From The Australian...today

maintenance work done overseas, in a move that threatens to inflame the dispute disrupting the nation's airports.
As airline passengers prepared for more turmoil today after more than 20 flights were cancelled yesterday, Qantas said it planned to have overseas engineers in the US and London permanently conduct maintenance work on its fleet, reducing work available for Australian engineers.
After the engineers' union threatened more disruption after today in support of its 5 per cent pay claim, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon revealed American engineers at Los Angeles International Airport had completed two full maintenance inspections - known as A-checks - on Qantas jets in the past 10 days.
Mr Dixon told The Australian that it was the first time that full inspections had been completed in Los Angeles and the airline was planning more full A-checks in other major cities - believed to include London - where Qantas jets had major downtime.
Qantas also hoped to increasingly use engineers based atAvalon in Melbourne, who arenot part of the current dispute, to undertake maintenance inspections.
"I will confirm that we are now doing A-checks in Avalon and LAX (Los Angeles) and we are looking at other options," Mr Dixon said.
As well as using overseas ports to work on its international fleet, Qantas again yesterday brought in a team of non-union management engineers to work on domestic planes.
In a letter to staff yesterday, Mr Dixon said the Qantas board had met in New York last week and urged executives to hold the line against the "untimely" demands of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association.
The union's rolling stoppages forced disruption to more than 20 domestic and international flights yesterday, with at least a further 18 flights to be affected today when action is taken in Brisbane and Perth.
The association's federal president, Paul Cousins, said the union would consider more stoppages if Qantas did not shift from its offer of a 3 per cent pay rise.
Mr Dixon told staff the industrial action would affect passengers and "only adds to the pressure to restructure Qantas in the face of the soaring fuel costs that have changed the industry forever".
International airlines, including Qantas and its Australian rival Virgin Blue, have been forced to review their operations to cope with soaring aviation fuel costs as the global oil price passes $US130 a barrel. Qantas, which says its fuel bill will rise by $2billion in the coming year, and Virgin Blue have increased ticket prices and cut back some routes to offset the higher costs.
Company sources said the increasing use of Los Angeles airport was designed to "send ashot across the bows" of theunion.
"We've done partial A-checks (at Los Angeles) before but we've never geared up to do full A-checks, which means they will no longer be done in Australia, it will be permanent," one company source said.
"If we can get it done elsewhere, it obviously means it is less work for their members."
Another source said Qantas was committed to sending more work offshore and, where necessary, bringing in foreign labour, while the union continued to take action.
But Mr Dixon again ruled out trying to replace the workforce en masse, in a repeat of the tactics used by Patrick Corporation's Chris Corrigan in the 1998 waterfront dispute.
"There is no suggestion we're here to do a Patricks," he said. "We're not geared to do it and we have never tried to be geared to do it."
The union has attacked the company for refusing to shift on its 3 per cent offer.
It says the company has the capacity to lift its wage offer, given the significant profit it will record this financial year.
But Mr Dixon said the airline would not back down.
"We have had what I regard as a very sophisticated and fair wages policy. We are not going to change it now, particularly not in the current environment," he said. "You just couldn't contemplate our wages policy changing when we are being hit with such a huge increase in the price of oil."
ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence said he was unimpressed by Qantas threatening to move maintenance offshore, saying it contradicted the airline's previous claim that it wanted to keep as much maintenance work in Australia as possible.
"They need to establish their bona fides for that," Mr Lawrence said.
"I think the ALAEA members are key people for Qantas. They are some of their most highly trained, skilled people. They're essential for the operation of the airline and I think they're entitled to be treated with respect.
"Some of these issues are raised from time to time but I have got no reason to believe that Qantas are not interested in continuing to have maintenance done in Australia.
"We are still talking to them about increased capacity for maintenance of some of the newer aircraft in Australia.
"There needs to be a realistic position taken. The fact is, given the shortages of licensed aircraft engineers around the world, that's not going to be a solution to Qantas's business."
Mr Lawrence urged Qantas to resume negotiations with the engineers, claiming the company's strong profits should allow it to offer more than a 3 per cent pay rise.
"I think there is the potential for a settlement there and when you look at the profits that Qantas have been making and the (wage) settlements that have been around the place in a number of industries, a 3 per cent wages policy is unrealistic," he said. "I can therefore understand that the ALAEA isn't prepared to settle for that."
He said he did not know if the union would shift ground on its 5per cent pay rise demand.
"I think what we need to do is explore options," he said.
"The union never said they're not prepared to sit down and talk about options and ways in which it can be achieved. But, at the moment, the last discussion that was had, there was a pretty substantial gap there."

Thx GD

[not4thefainthearted]

Where's the LABOR Party.

Where is the Labor Party standing on this issue. Cmon Fed Sec what about some support from Bill Shorten and Greg Combet.
This is the industrial relations system Private enterprise wanted. Surprise, It ends up in a bitter conflict. Sounds like we have slipped back to the 1890's. Take some lessons from the shearers and more recently the wharfies boys hang in there.
I want every one of you to e-mail your member of parliament for a return to a fair and workable industrial relations system.
DO IT FOR YOUR KIDS! Do it for what kind of country you want them to inherit. That's why your working at the despotic airline anyway isn't it.
Stick it through, remember some out there walked away from $100,000 for you and the principle of solidarity! (so don't whinge about being docked 4 hrs pay)
This is an ideological fight Australia can't afford to lose.
Look at your DMM or Manager if they have been appointed in the last 5 years. Do they look like they have the capacity for a decent fight are they weak gutless and opportunistic.
You Will Win. Decency will triumph in the end.

[ejectx3]

Support level breached..look out below FOG

Qan 2.990 3.000 2.990 -0.040 -1.32 3.010 3.030 2.950 7,695,066 465 23,066,243

[savage1qan]

OT Back on in HM Melb

The puppets (managment) in melbourne have come down heavy on the brothers in heavy maint. Threatening interviews and letters with intent to terminate their employment, all i will say is you can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink.

Stick to the cause!!!

[ejectx3]

But what is important is the shareholders!......

[dr skydrol]

Sending more work offshore
Nice try chicken little look at the scoreboard today shareprice at $2.96 and falling. Soon there won't be much price to share. Is your UNFAIR wage policy really worth destroying this company. Spirit of Australia eh OFF.