Qantas unions fear axe to fall on up to 3000 jobs
Date
February 22, 2014
Qantas' heavily unionised workforce fears up to 3000 job cuts will be announced next week when the airline's management reveals how it plans to strip $2 billion in costs out of the business.
The looming job losses come amid a high-stakes lobbying campaign by Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, who has been seeking financial assistance from the Abbott government.
The airline warned in December that it will slump to a half-year loss of up to $300 million, and detail the extent of job cuts which it said at the time will be at least 1000 this year.
But well-placed sources said on Friday they believed the job cuts - likely to include engineers and pilots - would be in the thousands. ''It will be big and ugly,'' one said. While they could not put a definite figure on the cuts, sources said they would be ''pleasantly surprised'' if it was less than 2000 or 3000.
Qantas would not respond directly to questions of how many jobs would go but put out a statement late on Friday noting a ''series of unsubstantiated and unsourced rumours swirling around ahead of our half-year results, ranging from estimates on job losses to route changes''.
The airline has denied rumours that it would reduce A380 services to London.
Mr Joyce warned last week that there were more ''hard decisions'' ahead for Qantas. He has emphasised that the cost cuts he will have to make are greater than those made by the much larger American Airlines when it was placed in bankruptcy protection in 2011.
He is under pressure from investors to reveal a credible way of cutting costs when he unveils Qantas's half-year results next Thursday, a day before Virgin Australia reports.
''If they are going to cut costs, jobs will be a big part of that,'' an analyst said.
Fairfax Media reported last week that the Abbott government was preparing to throw Qantas a lifeline in the form of a debt guarantee, similar to the assistance provided to the banks during the global financial crisis.
Mr Joyce has been lobbying Coalition MPs and assistance for help, but Virgin Australia and Regional Express have demanded the government provide them with help if it offers their larger competitor assistance.
Australian Services Union national secretary Linda White said that with 33,000 employees at Qantas, speculation was rife about what the company could announce next Thursday.
But she said her union, which represents the largest bloc of about 9000 Qantas workers, including ground and check-in staff, telephone sales, IT and some middle management, would fight for every job at the airline.
"This is all speculation,'' Ms White said.
''We don't know the facts yet, we have strong enterprise bargaining agreements and we will fight for every job. We will see what happens next week.''
Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association president Steve Purvinas said he had heard rumours on Friday that anywhere between 1000 and 10,000 jobs may be cut at the airline.
Mr Purvinas said this was a deliberate strategy to create uncertainty about the airline's future. ''But for Qantas to return to profitability they only need to make one person redundant: Alan Joyce,'' he said.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/qantas-unions-fear-axe-to-fall-on-up-to-3000-jobs-20140221-337k8.html#ixzz2tysxu400
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Fears Qantas Will Cut Up To 3000 Jobs. (Read 807 times)
