Qantas passengers in for bumpy ride

[Paul]

QANTAS passengers are facing three months of lengthy delays and disruptions after maintenance unions vowed to impose "low-level" industrial action from Thursday.

The action could delay international traffic during the Melbourne Commonwealth Games and over Easter.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and Australian Workers Union said they had no choice but to proceed with the action after holding further enterprise bargaining agreement talks with Qantas yesterday.

The airline had already broken a deadline set by unions last month to "come clean" on details of its five-month-old review of engineering operations. This may result in the sacking of at least 2500 of 6900 maintenance workers and the relocation to Asia of long-haul heavy maintenance.

SMH

 

[Paul]

Qantas to Cut as Many as 480 Sydney Maintenance Jobs (Update2)

Qantas Airways Ltd., Australia's biggest airline, will cut as many as 480 Sydney engineering jobs to help meet Chief Executive Officer Geoff Dixon's A$3 billion ($2.2 billion) cost-saving target.

The airline is closing its Boeing Co. 747 heavy maintenance unit by May and moving some of the work to Victoria and Queensland states, Dixon said in a statement today. The decision quelled concern the airline would shift about 2,500 wide-body maintenance jobs overseas where wages are lower.

Restructuring its Australian workforce ``had the benefit of significant savings that would make the airline competitive, while preserving a much desired skill base within the country,'' Dixon said in the statement.

Dixon, 66, is midway through a five-year cost-cutting plan to counter rising fuel prices and increased competition from carriers including Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Emirates airline. Qantas is still considering moving some operations overseas, which may provoke a battle with unions and tarnish the airline's reputation as Australia's national carrier.

Australian Treasurer Peter Costello said he wants Qantas to consider its ties to Australia.

``The federal government has recently made a number of announcements which were of enormous advantage to Qantas,'' he said before the company's statement. ``I expect that Qantas would want to recognize the importance of Australia to its business.''

Bloomberg