Airlines: Qantas & QF Regionals

It’s announcement by press release again at Qantas

By the ASU - the airlines industry union

If anyone thought things had changed at Qantas since Geoff Dixon's departure, then they would be wrong. Yesterday in true Dixonesque style, CEO Alan Joyce decided to announce a major change that is proposed at Qantas airports not to the customers, not to the staff, but to the Aviation Press Club.

Airport customer service staff were supposed to get an email from Alan Joyce to get on board, read the speech and join the excitement.

As best we can determine from the public announcements Qantas' over 1 million frequent flyers are getting a micro-chipped card and bag tags allowing them to check themselves in. This must mean more machines and less people.

Trouble is, no-one can give any detail about what it all means. We now know the Board made a decision some time ago on this project. Apparently managers were briefed last week and thought the announcement would be in December 2009, but no-one is in a position to brief staff on exactly what is planned or how they will be affected. We are just being told it's all okay.

What about consultation?

Well, as usual, that didn't happen. Commitments in EBAs about consultation, it appears, are just technicalities in the Alan Joyce world. Talking to the staff and engaging in consultation even if it is clearly spelled out in an EBA are commitments to be broken, not honoured.

For the record our EBA 8 at Clause 12 extensively deals with what should have happened when the Company makes a definite decision to introduce major changes. They have to consult and engage in discussion as soon as practicable.

We know a decision was made a while ago, we know managers were briefed last week. Yet no consultation or discussion with those at the frontline has taken place.

What does it all mean?

It is anyone's guess what it all means, but we have to assume the worst.

We are told that when asked at the aviation Press Club if jobs would be lost or affected, Alan Joyce dodged the questions at least 3 times. That does not sound good.

We can get no sense out of senior Qantas management; all too busy to talk about frontline staff and their jobs, it seems.

It appears airport management were caught off guard too and are hiding in their bunkers. There's no briefing or PowerPoint they can talk to, so they are not saying anything.

It’s time to take control

We have demanded a Qantas airport delegates meeting and are finalising a date soon.

The good news is that with our next round of bargaining coming up, this is going to be an issue we can put on the table.

We are also taking legal advice about Qantas' failure to consult and the perpetual announcement by press release. Enough is enough.

It is time the Qantas CEO realised an EBA commitment is a real commitment, not something to be ditched to suit a media cycle.

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