Post by Chips on May 16, 2008 10:56:49 GMT 9.5
Qantas could put its money where its mouth is
It is outrageous that Qantas is assembling a foreign strike-breaking force to thwart maintenance engineers striking after protracted negotiations with the company ("Qantas prepares to smash strike", May 15). Qantas is offering the strike breakers considerably more than it pays its own engineers - double in some cases. And that's leaving aside the $40,000 "completion bonus".
The Herald's travel section regularly carries complaints about the decline in Qantas's service and reliability. Geoff Dixon, firmly focused on shareholder profits, ignores the role a competent, well-remunerated workforce has played in securing Qantas's enviable position as the carrier of choice for Australians. That's a position not likely to survive if Qantas resorts to the bullying tactics your report suggests, since safety is the foremost consideration for airline passengers.
Isabelle Wharley Willoughby
Geoff Dixon is so incensed his engineering workforce is seeking a 5 per cent pay increase that he has "made a decision" and lined up 100 strike breakers from Malaysia and management ranks. Is this the same Geoff Dixon who received a 200 per cent pay increase last financial year?
Jay Jackson Darlington
How many competent Indian accountants could we get for the price of one Qantas CEO? I reckon we could replace the whole of senior management and have some change.
Phil Stanton Corindi Beach
No, Matthew Adams (Letters, May 15), it is not your imagination that Qantas has had an increased number of "incidents" since it moved its maintenance offshore. You will be able to confirm this by chatting to flight staff. A Qantas steward friend now spends a large part of his shifts waiting on the tarmac as the pilots refuse to use planes they deem unsafe.
Susan Beynon Mosman
It is outrageous that Qantas is assembling a foreign strike-breaking force to thwart maintenance engineers striking after protracted negotiations with the company ("Qantas prepares to smash strike", May 15). Qantas is offering the strike breakers considerably more than it pays its own engineers - double in some cases. And that's leaving aside the $40,000 "completion bonus".
The Herald's travel section regularly carries complaints about the decline in Qantas's service and reliability. Geoff Dixon, firmly focused on shareholder profits, ignores the role a competent, well-remunerated workforce has played in securing Qantas's enviable position as the carrier of choice for Australians. That's a position not likely to survive if Qantas resorts to the bullying tactics your report suggests, since safety is the foremost consideration for airline passengers.
Isabelle Wharley Willoughby
Geoff Dixon is so incensed his engineering workforce is seeking a 5 per cent pay increase that he has "made a decision" and lined up 100 strike breakers from Malaysia and management ranks. Is this the same Geoff Dixon who received a 200 per cent pay increase last financial year?
Jay Jackson Darlington
How many competent Indian accountants could we get for the price of one Qantas CEO? I reckon we could replace the whole of senior management and have some change.
Phil Stanton Corindi Beach
No, Matthew Adams (Letters, May 15), it is not your imagination that Qantas has had an increased number of "incidents" since it moved its maintenance offshore. You will be able to confirm this by chatting to flight staff. A Qantas steward friend now spends a large part of his shifts waiting on the tarmac as the pilots refuse to use planes they deem unsafe.
Susan Beynon Mosman