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Half of Qantas' jobs are on the line - as the boss Alan Joyce gets a nice $2 million bonus
Read more: Half of Qantas' jobs are on the line - as the boss Alan Joyce gets a nice $2 million bonus | News.com.au
Read more: Half of Qantas' jobs are on the line - as the boss Alan Joyce gets a nice $2 million bonus | News.com.au
QANTAS boss Alan Joyce has warned that half the airline would "be gone" within a year - with tens of thousands of jobs potentially at risk - if unions pursued their industrial campaign into 2012.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph following an annual general meeting in Sydney yesterday, Mr Joyce said parts of the airline would begin to be shut down if the current dispute with engineers, pilots and ground staff is not resolved.
"If action continues as the unions have promised, we will have no choice but to to shrink the airline bit by bit," he said.
"If it goes for more than a year, we estimate we will have to shut down half of Qantas operations. That's 50 per cent of Qantas, gone.
"It goes without saying that this would have very grave consequences for jobs."
His stark assessment of the financial costs of industrial action now crippling the airline - estimated to be $2 million a day - has put a cloud over at least 17,000 jobs, or almost half the Qantas workforce.
Services and flights would soon start to be wound down, with major disruptions to commercial and tourism travel within Australia and overseas.
Yesterday's AGM, held under tight security and a heavy police presence at the University of NSW, was told that the strike action had already cost Qantas $68 million, on top of the disruption to the public and tourism industry.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday said she was receiving regular briefings on the dispute, but would not say when or if the Government would intervene.
"I am maintaining regular briefings with the relevant ministers about the Qantas dispute so I am making sure I am continuously informed," she said.
"I believe Australians expect the parties to this dispute to get it fixed."
Transport Workers Union national secretary Tony Sheldon, who is tipped to win the nomination as the next national Labor Party president in December, said meetings held around the country yesterday endorsed further industrial action if Qantas does not guarantee job security.
The fireworks that were expected to occur did not eventuate at the meeting.
There was a brief 10-minute protest by the Occupy Sydney group before the meeting started at 11am.
Shareholders booed during the meeting when Mr Joyce was awarded a $2 million pay rise.
However, in a vindication of his management of the airline, 98 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of it.
In addition to pay rises, the engineers, pilots and ground staff are protesting at Qantas's plans to restructure the airline with job losses of 1000 and a new non-Qantas branded offshoot to be based in Asia.
The unions claim the restructure amounted to off-shoring pilots, engineers and catering jobs. Qantas management reject this.
Budget offshoot Jetstar's overheads are far lower than those of Qantas. It has cut costs by outsourcing flight crewing, payroll and its call centre to Manilla.
Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association secretary Steve Purvinas warned industrial action could extend until the middle of next year.
Mr Purvinas argued Qantas' call for government intervention was unnecessary because flight cancellations were negligible.
In September, when the entire month was affected by industrial action by engineers, Qantas only cancelled 1.8 per cent of it's flights and Jetstar cancelled 2.1 per cent.
Vice President of the Australian and International Pilots Association, Richard Woodward, said pilots would also be ramping up its industrial action over the coming weeks and months.
Mr Purvinas said the Qantas board was "trying to shift the best part of our airline to Asia. Which is something that I think most Australians despise".
He warned that more "severe action" may need to be taken by his union in coming months.
"The licensed engineers have a number of options up our sleeve (including) stoppages of up to 48 hours," he said.
"At this stage we haven't come to anywhere near that stage but we are of course concerned about government intervention and now with the premiers of NSW and victoria calling for this intervention so that they can save their tourism industry."
Read more: Half of Qantas' jobs are on the line - as the boss Alan Joyce gets a nice $2 million bonus | News.com.au