Employee Stories
| Qantas grounds 20 Attendants exposed to Swine-Flu on Flights From: The Age (more at: www.theage.com.au) Posted June 1, 2009 Qantas has quarantined about 20 flight attendants who came into direct contact with swine-flu victims, the airline has confirmed. A spokeswoman said this morning the cabin crew were in quarantine after working on a series of flights with passengers who had tested positive to the potentially deadly H1N1 virus. There are 67 confirmed cases of swine flu in Australia, but authorities expect that number to grow considerably. Employee: Don't judge to harshly, 99% of us do Our job Submitted: by Anonymous (posted: May, 30, 2009) Well, I just found this site this evening by accident and I'm pretty depressed. I think I and 99% of my colleagues do a great job with what we have, to get planes out on time or better, and in good shape. Then it's up to Line Maintenance (ACS- Airline Customer Service) to follow on. Regarding lost baggage, I too have a story- regarding my sister-in-law who returned from overseas early last year. What had made me especially angry was the time I had to spend with my wife and her just-arrived sister, sorting out the problem before heading for home from the airport- I paid a small fortune in parking fees beforehand. However, I learnt something here: while waiting for the worker to process all the paperwork, I glanced past her at the hundreds of luggage items stacked around a carousel. She knew I was staff and I asked how long this had been going on. Knowing she could trust me, she rolled her eyes and replied with a sigh: they are now on 12 hour shifts, they are under-staffed, and they are now also on contracts. Basically, my letter to John said that we (Qantas) don't have resources to get passengers' baggage to them efficiently, but we certainly have money to pay couriers to send two cases 40ks from Tulla to Werribee and who-knows where else. Please don't judge us all too harshly. As in any large organisation, the greater the number of staff, the equally greater the number of indifferent workers. Percentage-wise it remains unchanged, though on numbers, it's a great deal more. I know we're talking about an industry advertising giving a service, together with reliability and face-to-face interaction, and trying to build trust and good faith. There's not much that I can do from the hangar floor to ease some-one's pain re bad cabin service or lost luggage, but I share the pain. I just hope that people who write in do so with an open mind, that they haven't made unrealistically demands, and that maybe it is they who could actually make a cabin crew's day. We now have new managers and CEOs. (For how long can we use the word 'new' since December 1st last year?). I thank you for the opportunity to add my comments. 85% of Australian Flight Attendants are replaced at Qantas From: The Australian (More at: www.theaustralian.news.com.au) Posted May, 24, 2009 The flying kangaroo has developed an English accent on Qantas flights as British flight attendants replace Australians. The Spirit of Australia's trademark "g'day" started to go missing between London and the airline's Asian hubs of Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong after Qantas set up a cabin crew base in Britain in 2005. With all but about 80 of the 550 jobs at the base taken up by non-Australians [85%]. The London base was part of a cost-cutting program designed to save the airline $18 million a year by cutting down in areas such as cabin crew allowances and accommodation expenses. Qantas Finances and Outlooks looks bleak - Executive paid $11.0 million From: Business Day (more at: business.theage.com.au) Posted, May 8, 2009 Between December 2007 and 2008, Qantas' operating cash flow dropped from $1.3 billion to $378 million, while the company's earnings fell from $836 million to $199 million. The June 2009 half looks to be even worse, with Qantas noting last week that it expected to lose more than $300 million during the period (after stripping out an extraordinary $150 million gain due to the "sale" of frequent flyer points). Fortunately for Dixon and Gregg (key Qantas Executives), not only did the bid fail, but the Qantas board graciously offered them significant "retention payments" to remain with Qantas. In fact, these payments made Dixon the world's highest-paid (cash terms) airline executive last year. [ed: despite extreeme poor performance] In 2007-08, Dixon was paid $11.9 million, including a retention payment of $4.5 million. (Qantas' 2008 annual report noted the company had underperformed both the S&P/ASX 100 and MSCI World Airline Index since 2002). In its notice of 2007 annual meeting, Qantas stated that "retention of key executives has become even more important given the events facing Qantas and the aviation industry generally during recent years. Experience shrinks - another Executive is forced out From: ABC News (more at www.abc.com.au) Posted April 11, 2009 One of the most senior executives, Borghetti, is quitting the company after 36 years with the airline. Qantas group executive John Borghetti will stand down next month. The company's chief executive Alan Joyce says Mr Borghetti has notched up some major achievements in making Qantas a "world leading airline". He says there will be some management changes as a result. Qantas CIO is fired after only 18 months on the job From: The Standard (more at: www.thestandard.com) Posted April 3, 2009 Qantas has axed the CIO role amid a corporate restructure announced earlier this month. A spokesperson for the airline said CIO Jamila Gordon is leaving "as a result of management changes," and that responsibility for technology will fall on Qantas executive manager of corporate services and technology David Hall. Gordon was CIO at Qantas for only 18 months. The airline would not comment further. Qantas Fire 90 of the senior management team & freeze pay From: BBC (more at: www.bbc.co.uk) Posted March 25, 2009 The Qantas cuts come on top of 1,500 firings announced last year. Qantas also said it would make changes to make it a "leaner, more fast-moving organization". Chief executive Alan Joyce said: "Our response must begin with those of us who lead the company. Unfortunately, introducing a flatter, leaner structure means making some tough decisions." [ed: Mr. Joyce made no comments on his own $4.71 million pay package awarded late last fall] Qantas close jetstar Crew base in Hobart and fire 41 employees From: Sky News (more at: Skynews.com.au) Posted March 12, 2009 Jetstar is closing its Hobart crew base, forcing 41 local staff to take redundancies or relocate. Spokesman Simon Westaway said from May 1 they would no longer have a permanently base aircraft and staff in Hobart. Six pilots and 35 cabin crew would be supported by the airline to move or get fired. Mr Westaway said 'Today's decision wasn't made with a smirk on our face'. Qantas outsourcing continues - $450 million goes to IBM From: CNetNews (more at news.cnet.com) Posted Feb. 27, 2009 IBM Global Services on Monday announced a $450 million, 10-year contract from Australian airline Qantas Airways to manage its data center and other information technology needs. The deal is effective May 31. IBM will shift all Qantas servers to IBM's Sydney data center and run machines and a range of managed services for Qantas at different locations. The Australian airline will use the IBM servers on an on-demand basis with payment limited to usage time. IBM has been pushing its on-demand services, saying the process will enable it to outsell its competitors. Qantas employee: Management bullying & nepotism scares away senior staff Submitted by: "Joy" Posted Feb. 3, 2009 I speak from over 25 years experience in the aviation industry, much of that time I say sadly with Qantas. Qantas' greatest problem is that nepotism is rampant in all departments & has been for all too long! Wrong people filtering their way into positions of authority, for which they have no skills, qualifications, expertise or aptitude has resulted in the rapid growth of a totally incompetent management team, particulary at Sydney airport in a several specific departments. Unprofessional,inappropriate & even criminal behaviour by these & other staff has been un-addressed over many years & conveniently suppressed, in effort for Qantas to avoid damaging media coverage & litigation. Intimidation of decent,principled staff has become routine behaviour for a significant thread of Qantas staff management. I personally know of many long-serving, dedicated & professional staff who have chosen to leave their employ at Qantas, through utter disgust of the corruption that exits. "Bully-boy", intimidatory tactics by management has resulted in the high rate of resignation of many long serving,highly people-skilled staff,who like me have taken their expertise elsewhere. Very real workplace abuse is in practise everyday in a large proportion of Qantas departments I can guarantee you. Talk to the staff, ask them! 2 weeks after failed merger with BA, Qantas Chairman joins buyout firm From: The Australian (more at: www.theaustralian.news.com.au) Posted Jan. 5, 2009 Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford has been appointed a senior adviser to US buyout kings Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.The 61-year-old former chief executive of mining giant Rio Tinto said he would help identify opportunities for investors for the US-based private equity firm while "partnering with managers to strengthen business in Australia". The appointment is likely to sound warnings bells at Qantas, with unions wary after the failed Airline Partners Australia private equity bid two years ago. Airline Employees gets salary cuts - New CEO gets $4.71 million. From: Business Net (more at: www.bnet.com) Posted Nov. 19, 2008 Mr Joyce, the chief executive of Qantas offshoot Jetstar, will take over from Geoff Dixon as head of Qantas at the company's annual general meeting on November 28. Qantas said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange on Monday that Mr Joyce would receive a fixed annual remuneration of $2 million. It said Mr Joyce could earn additional income through a mixture of cash and shares.Based on Friday's closing price for Qantas of $2.42 per share, and assuming Mr Joyce reaches all targets and performance hurdles, as much as $3.5 million in cash and around $1.21 million in shares per year could be earned. This would put the total value of Mr Joyce's remuneration package at around $4.71 million a year. Qantas proposes also to award the rights to an average of 250,000 Qantas shares to Mr Joyce in each of fiscal 2009, 2010 and 2011. After disastrous year & profits collapse - Qantas CEO is forced to resign From: Forbes magazine (more at: www.forbes.com) Posted Nov. 7, 2008 Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon said the airline needs to merge with another major operator because it is not in a strong enough position to resist the trend toward global integration. The outspoken CEO, who will retire in November, presided over his final semiannual earnings report at Qantas Airways. Dixon refused to offer any hint as to whether Qantas has an acquisition target in mind or whether any suitor has approached the airline. "I am not saying there is anybody out there at the moment," he stressed. There had been rumors circulating that Singapore Airlines was looking for an alliance with Qantas, as a way of gaining access to lucrative Australian-U.S. routes, as well as to shore itself up in the face of soaring fuel costs. Sydney-based Qantas on Thursday posted a 2.6% decline in net profit in the second half of its 2007/2008 fiscal year. Dixon, who will be succeeded by the current CEO of its Jetstar subsidiary, Alan Joyce, on Thursday projected that fuel costs for the airline would rise by 1.6 billion Australian dollars. The Australian carrier in July put on hold its plans to increase capacity by 8%. It cut 1,500 staff, about 4% of its workforce, and implemented other austerity measures as well. Inside story on Qantas Maintenance Slash and Burn Strategy Submitted by: "Fluidic Amplifier" (submitted on-line) - Posted Oct. 17, 2008 I am a close friend of an engineer who used to work at the international terminal at Sydney. A little over 2 years ago, there was a change of management for engineering at the terminal, a bloke named Rodney Hespe took over the reigns. His mandate was simple, to slash and burn and "down size" the workforce to eliminate costs and overheads. He introduced all sorts of weird and wonderful policies, formed committees to manage everything from Foreign Object Damage on the Tarmac to implementing a new shift roster. Everything had to be changed from our old inefficient ways to Rod's new streamlined, cost efficient and cut throat ways. As part of this new regime of change, all engineers were made to attend a "Change Management Course", this course had the simple message of "QANTAS is changing, get used to it." Whilst at the change management course we were made to perform idiotic exercises such as passing a ball through our legs and playing musical chairs, all for the purpose of making us act as a team. When we rolled into the classroom, a few people asked why we were wasting our time on such a rudimentary day, at which point our instructor said "I heard you were a bunch of Pre-Madonna’s." We were used to being treated like rubbish by management, so it was a nothing comment. The comment that got our backs up was when during a question time, our instructor informed us that "QANTAS accountants have factored in, that they can afford to have 2 planes plough in and it won't affect the QANTAS business." Needless to say we were all appalled and gob smacked by this comment, not only for the way it was said but by the obvious contempt that management have for not only their employees, but their passengers. Engineers are the airlines insurance policy, whereby when everything is going sweet, they are just another number on the system, but if something was to go wrong with a plane, engineers are hung out to dry. Even when all work performed by engineers is done In Accordance With the Aircraft maintenance manual, QANTAS policy and procedure manual, and any other associated paperwork, they are the ones that will ultimately bear the brunt of any accident involving an aircraft. Just ask the engineer that QANTAS have falsely accused of falsifying his aircraft license, after allowing him to certify for planes for 9 months. If he was to have falsified his basics and license as is purported, QANTAS would have picked this up earlier as they would have followed the QANTAS policy and procedure manual, which states that the onus is on QANTAS to verify and validate a license before anyone can certify for aero planes. I have lots more stories from QANTAS... Flight Attendant: Thank God I don't have to deal with Qantas Management!! Posted by: Jenny (submitted on-line) - posted Oct. 8, 2008 I worked as a flight attendant with Qantas for many years and can sympathies with all the comments about Qantas I've read on this site. About a year before i took VR i had the displeasure of flying with a very aggressive short English customer service manager on a long trip which turned into a trip from hell and back. With his continual verbal abuse directed at me throughout the trip it finally turned to physical abuse!! i chose to not continue working with this person and returned home as a passenger to report my misfortune of having to endure this mans total lack of modern day behaviour skills. After he was stood down and returned to syd a lengthy enquiry took place by cabin crew middle management (people mostly just out of school with hardly any lifes experiences I might add). The upshot of the enquiry was no witnesses could be found to back up my claims of his behaviour so in their minds the incident did not warrant any action to recitfy his bad behaviour. This man however, had cause considerable pain to other flight attendants prior to my incident and on his previous trip had done the same thing to another female flight attendant. The moral of this story is if Qantas management condone their customer service mangagers behave to their crew in this manner you can see why your all having the trip from hell I've been reading about. Qantas has a very bad "boys club" attitude, service is unheard off as mostly crew just want to get meals over with and get to the bunks, eat crap food in the galley or don a pair of headsets and watch a movie in the service centre. Anyone wanting to enjoy flying now are up against crew who are at the mercy of draconian management styles as in my nightmare trip or crew who are just out for a good time in slip ports and do as little as possible during the flight. In finishing I'm just glad Qantas paid me a wonderful VR payment and I don't have to put up with anymore "S..." as I had to while employed with them. Qantas sends 20,000 workers to Charm school From: The Herald Sun (heraldsun.com.au) Posted April, 30, 2008 Qantas is sending its entire force of 20,000 customer service staff to charm school, as the flying kangaroo invests in multi-million dollar projects. Lesley Grant, general manager Qantas customer services and products, said it was hoped up to 20,000 staff who deal directly with customers could be put through the academy in the first year. "We are designing programs that reconnect our people with what the customer experience is," Ms Grant said. Qantas Manager calls employees “Bloodsucking Vampires” From: The Brisbane Times (brisbanetimes.com.au) Posted April, 23, 2008 Qantas valet staff were called "bloodsucking vampires" by a manager and were forced onto Australian Workplace Agreements that cut pay and conditions. A report by the State Government's Workplace Rights Advocate found that employees were likely to be considerably worse off. The advocate's report aired claims of duress, which is against the law, and the valet staff were told by a manager that the company did not want to employ "troublemakers" and that the staff "bloodsucking vampires" after they asked for better conditions. The union called for further investigation into the matter by the Commonwealth Workplace Ombudsman, which has the power to seek fines. This affects about 70 valet staff at Melbourne Airport and about 170 nationwide most who lost their jobs after Qantas outsourced their jobs to cheaper labor. Qantas Employee Falls to her death from Boeing 747 From: The Courier Mail (CourierMail.com.au) Posted April 15, 2008. Police are investigating the death of the 63-year-old woman who fell about 6m to the tarmac from a Qantas 747 at the Brisbane International Terminal as she loaded meals on to the aircraft at 8.15am. Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics unsuccessfully tried to revive the woman. Qantas Flight 175 was scheduled to depart from Brisbane to Los Angeles about 11am yesterday but was rescheduled to leave at 3.30pm. It was the second time in two years a person has fallen from an Aerobridge, used by airlines to load meals or passengers on to an aircraft. Australian Services Union secretary Julie Bignell said just before Christmas 2006 another Qantas customer service employee, who was assisting with passenger boarding fell from the Aerobridge. "He became trapped in the Aerobridge and tried to ring for help but the phone on the Aerobridge wasn't working," she said. "He ended up hitting his head on the tarmac but he wasn't found until some time later as nobody saw it happen." Ms Bignell said the man was on sick leave for about nine months after the fall. Transport Workers Union state secretary Hughie Williams said the woman was a mother who had worked for Qantas Airline Catering for a number of years. "I also want to know why there was such a gap with people moving across it. I don't know how big the gap was but it was obviously big enough to fall through." "We expect the Government and Workplace Health and Safety to carry out a full investigation to find out what tragedy caused this to happen and to make sure incidents and tragedies like this do not occur again," he said. Qantas Cabin Crew Australia Subsidiary Pays less Posted by Pilot Nanny at Cabin Crew (www.cabincrew.com) April 6, 2008 I hope the fulltimers DO NOT vote in QCCA conditions for short haul. The only good thing about them would be the staff travel- IF they gave it to us!!! I think it's stupid that fulltimers will vote on something that doesn't even affect them- they are on fulltime so they wouldn't have to work uunder any new contract would they???? Have spoken to at least 2 current QCCA crew who went from MAM and they both want to come back- citing lower than anticipated pay and generally not liking it. Qantas Strikes likely: Union Walks out of negotiations From: The Business Spectator (www.businessspectator.com.au) Posted April 5, 2008 The union representing licensed aircraft engineers at Qantas has pulled out of an in-principle deal for a four-year enterprise agreement, The Australian Financial Review reports. According to the AFR, the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association federal secretary Steve Purvinas said he was withdrawing his approval . The union would apply for a second secret ballot to give members the go-ahead to hold 48-hour strikes, the paper reports. "Quite simply, it's [already] gone to a vote," he said. "What was endorsed was not 3 per cent, but a host of other additions to try and create a wage outcome that delivered close to 5 per cent for our members." Qantas Pilot: I wanted to crash a 747 Jet Plane From his book (posted Mar. 21, 2008) The former 61 year old Qantas Pilot B. Griffin has published a book detailing how he wanted to crash a Qantas 747 and why he blames Qantas for not providing any medial treatment. Dr. Jonathan Phillips diagnosed the pilot and concluded that he “became obsessionally pre-occupied with a particular emergency procedure at that time and had a compulsion to carry out actions likely to cause major problems for the aircraft which was then in normal operating mode”. His book called "One Obsession, Two Obsession, Three Obsession, Four, or Qantas Jet Star" can be bought on-line Flight Delays - Strike at Sydney Airport From: ABC News (www.abc.net.au) Posted Mar. 19, 2008 At least 10 flights have been delayed after Qantas baggage handlers walked off the job over safety concerns at Sydney Airport today. The international terminal workers assembled at 11:30am (AEDT) in a meeting Qantas says lasted 90 minutes. In a statement, TWU secretary Tony Sheldon says the baggage handlers are frustrated with understaffing, rostering concerns and old and badly maintained equipment. "Qantas have had five months to address these serious safety issues, yet the seem intent on ignoring the problems..." he said.”Faulty equipment and inadequate staffing levels are causing serious injuries to employees." Discussions with Qantas continues to get the employees to return to work. Qantas Unions calls for Boycott From: Microsoft Network Australia (news.ninemsn.com.au) March, 2008 Unions will ask Qantas customers to boycott the company's valet service after workers were made redundant and told they needed to sign Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) to be employed under a new contractor. About 50 union members rallied outside Qantas' valet service at Tullamarine Airport on Saturday in support of the 70 workers affected in Melbourne. Equity Valet Parking took over the Qantas valet parking contract from Hertz at airports in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane on Saturday. About 170 workers nationally have been affected by the changes. Pilots leaving - Qantas suspends flights From: Brisbane Times (www.brisbanetimes.com.au) Feb. 27, 2008 The Brisbane Times reports that a lack of pilot willing to work for Qantas due to low pay “has forced QantasLink to announce the sudden cancellation of some of its regional services”. QantasLink yesterday announced its "higher than normal pilot attrition rate" would result in the suspension of some services on its NSW and Queensland routes. QantasLink's chief executive, Narendra Kumar, said the airline would suspend six weekly services and scale back on others. The Australian Federation of Air Pilots has warned the airlines are losing experience in the cockpit. "We don't believe that there will be enough experience levels to take up what they are losing on the other side," warned the union's Lawrie Cox. Depite Record profits - Flight attendant pay is cut by 25% From: The Australian Feb. 23, 2008 (www.theaustralian.news.com.au) Qantas wants to use an agreement that is allowing it to hire 2000 new flight attendants at lower pay rates and longer working hours as a template for negotiations with other unions. The agreements protected the wages of 3000 existing international flight attendants but allowed the airline to hire new cabin crew for about 25% less pay and work them for 32% longer [58 hrs more per 8-weeks period]. The announcement comes a day after Qantas announced an impressive $618 million 6-months profit. The Inside Story – A Qantas Employee tells it all... Submitted by: Trevor, Feb. 27, 2008 I work at an airport in Australia at a Qantas terminal and have to deal with the constant problems that Qantas cause on a daily basis as I am in the firing line everyday. The terminal I am talking about wont be hard to find, it had a 26 hour delay over Christmas for people traveling to Sydney due to aircraft problems people and families spent there Christmas and boxing day sleeping in the terminal due to lack of communication. The terminal was at 40 Celsius since the air conditioner was broken AGAIN. I had people passing out from the heat as the terminal had run out of water and food. It was described as a 3rd world country terminal. Also, Qantas decided that it would be a good idea for them to use their old 747/300 aircraft for the West to East service. The aircraft is 27 years old and are always late or cancelled 75% of the time as they are too old. The terminal is also too small to handle two 747 aircrafts at one time making the line to check-in extremely long. The problems are known, but Qantas do not seem to care. This is systematic, I have frequently been witness to cabin crew leave wheel chair passengers at the top of the aerobridge to find their own way to the arrivals hall on there own, and have witnessed a lady passenger walk out of an aerobridge and trip on the horrible carpet in the terminal and break her color bone as she arrived. This is not the right way to treat passengers.. [more stories to come]… Qantas has Records Profits and cuts salaries for 170 workers From: Australian Service Union , Feb. 26, 2008 (www.asuservices.labor.net.au) 170 workers have been given a deadline of the end of this week to either accept a pay cut or lose their jobs. About 170 workers have been affected nationally including 70 at Melbourne as Equity Valet Parking prepares to take over the Qantas Valet Parking contract on March 1. The change of contract and AWA offer is presently subject to investigations being undertaken by the Victorian Workplace Rights Advocate and the Commonwealth Workplace Ombudsman. “Qantas should not hide behind a contracting arrangement that would see long serving airport valet parking workers losing wages and conditions of between $150 to $300 per week. Yet another CIO to Slash IT Staff at Qantas - Number 3 in 18 months!! From: ZDNet (www.zdnet.com.au) Qantas has revealed its new chief information officer -- Jamila Gordon. Gordon joins Qantas after roles at GIO, Deloitte and Touche and, most recently, IBM, where she oversaw the IT transformation and service delivery across 11 countries for a major European bank. According to Peter Gregg, CFO at Qantas, Gordon will bring experience in managing outsourcing deals which will benefit the airline in its ongoing IT transformation. Gordon becomes the third Qantas CIO in a little over 18 months. Former CIO Fiona Balfour left the airline in March 2006 after 14 years of service and subsequently joined Telstra in a parallel role, leaving after 10 months at the telco. She was succeeded by a then colleague, John Willett. Qantas Customer Service agents salaries cut 10% - retaliates on YouTube From: The Daily telegraph A MAJOR airline union will launch a global campaign on YouTube aimed at enlisting customer support against Qantas moves to slash the base pay of new customer service staff by more than $3000. The Australian Services Union is using the popular internet site to encourage passengers to complain to Qantas about service standards. The union hopes the YouTube clip will boost support for a campaign in which union officials have distributed postcards to passengers at airports saying: "What's next, Geoff, working for tips?" It says that the campaign has resulted in hundreds of protest emails and more than 1000 signed postcards from disgruntled passengers to Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon. ASU assistant national secretary Linda White said the airline was attempting to cut the base pay of newly employed check-in staff from $34,716 to $31,386 by classifying them at a lower level. She said airport workers were also angry that the airline was cutting staff and refusing to negotiate a new enterprise bargaining agreement. Ms White said the airline had argued that the introduction of self-service kiosks for passengers meant that new staff required fewer skills and were performing a different job, therefore they should be reclassified at a lower pay rate. She said the airline had told the union that under Work Choices, the ASU had little choice but to accept the reclassification. "They're doing it because they can do it and it is quite difficult to contest it," she said. "I think it's no less skilful – it's pretty much face-to-face with the passengers, there's no desk protecting you and it's arduous standing on your feet for a long time." The YouTube clip shows a kangaroo in full flight across the landscape and notes that Qantas is "bounding ahead" with a billion-dollar profit. As it slows down, the clip asks: "But how long will they fly high if they keep cutting airport staff and customer service standards? They're even trying to cut the minimum wages that are paid to those staff, despite paying themselves millions in executive bonuses." As the kangaroo stands scratching itself, the clip adds that this will mean less experienced staff on duty and longer delays. Ms White said passengers were sympathetic to the plight of check-in staff and she believed Qantas executives were out of touch when it came to the experiences of most travellers. She said the union had opted to take its message to YouTube because it was an evocative medium. "A picture's worth a thousand words and we think it will get passed around a lot," she said. "We think people will empathise with it and obviously, it's a way to get people to look at the website and tell Qantas what they think." Qantas executive general manager services Curtis Davies said the airline had created new positions to provide assistance to customers at the check-in kiosks. "The new employees will be paid in accordance with the EBA previously agreed by the union and they will have access to all of the benefits associated with working at Qantas," Mr Davies said. Qantas & Unions agree: no random alcohol or drug testing of pilots From: The Australian Service Union (www.asu.asn.au "The ACTU and Qantas unions have demanded and obtained a short-term agreement from Qantas that it will further delay its plan to introduce random alcohol and other drugs urine testing. Qantas unions demand halt to random drug testing. On 2 May Qantas announced that it would soon commence random alcohol and other drugs testing following the introduction of new CASA regulations requiring random testing. The Qantas unions have objected to this position because it is not true [they claim]. CASA has not released its regulations and has not mandated any form of random alcohol or drug testing. It is the view of the ACTU and the Qantas unions that currently there are no regulations that require Qantas to introduce random testing for alcohol and other drugs. The Qantas unions remain opposed to the introduction of random testing and remain committed to pursuing appropriate measurers which ensure a safe working environment for all, including the travelling public." |
| Not affilliated with Qantas airlines - in fact, they hate us |
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