Maintenance Offshoring
Yesterday was my first day back in the office after taking some time off during the Christmas holidays. After I cleaned out my inboxes (both on my desk and e-mail), I sat down to write this week’s Technically Speaking blog posting. As I prepared to write my blog, I scanned the wires to see if any news items caught my eye.
A news story on maintenance offshoring caught my attention. The story may sound familiar. Large airline decides to establish a maintenance base in Asia to save money. Union wants five percent pay raise for its members. Airline offers three percent. Airline’s 1,700 mechanics threaten industrial action. Company counters by unveiling contingency plans to offset any industrial actions by rescheduling flights and hiring non-union licensed former employees to replace them (at salaries that are twice what the airline’s current mechanics are making).
But this is not a story of the struggles between a U.S. carrier and its mechanics. It is of Quantas. The article appeared in the December 27 issue of theage.com.au. Reporter Scott Rochfort notes the airline fueled anger among staff when it announced plans to establish its first heavy maintenance base in Asia in partnership with Malaysia Airlines. The article goes on to note that Quantas says the new base will only serve as an “overflow” facility when its maintenance facilities in Australia are booked out.
Odd, but why would an airline build a new maintenance base in a foreign country only to use it as an overflow facility? Wouldn’t an investment of that magnitude mean more than just occasional maintenance work would be sent there?
Maintenance offshoring is a trend that affects mechanics around the world. Airlines around the globe are looking at all options when it comes to saving money — especially when it comes to maintenance costs.
You can read the entire article by clicking here.
Thanks for reading!
Joe Escobar
Scare tactics are the normal M.O. for airlines. I don’t beieve Quantas management one bit. The term “overflow” is merely a catch phrase, just like American Airlines’ “Shared Sacrifice” was a catch phrase to put employees at ease. Until that is when management took bonuses while labor took pay cuts. My point is if Quantas builds an “overflow” hangar it will be for overflow but Quantas management will determine the definition of what “overflow” means. I wish my fellow AME/AMTs support where ever and when ever I can.
Over the holidays an old friend and co-worker who works as a maintenance engineer for a major airline stopped by to say hi. He said that he spent most of last year working in Singapore and will head over to Germany for this year. Do I need to say more?
Hi Joe
As an ex-Ansett AME we always referred to QANTAS management as the “flying rat handlers”
Qantas Management is advertising for Scab Maintenance Engineers - this goes against all good maintenance practices and quality management systems.
This is a management team who wanted to last year to sell out to US investors!
I have been doing aircraft maint.for over 54 years all over the world.(to hard headed to get out)It has been all down hill since day one.It is always something, deragulation, strikes, bankruptcy,or it is management “Shared Sacrifice”.All I can say be a Attorney or Doctor don’t try and make an honest living as an aircraft mechanic.Get out will you can.
Whatever happened to the proposed section of the latest FAA re-authorization bill that would have required all maintenance on US aircraft to be conducted by organizations using random drug and alcohol testing? That provision would have brought back all the offshoring we’ve seen in the last decade. This seems to be a worldwide problem that will only enter the public consciousness when the next major crash occurs. If our aircraft maintenance organizations don’t get their collective acts together and push congress to rectify the problem, we are surely doomed.
The Poe amendment to House Resolution 2881 that proposed extending drug and alcohol testing to individuals performing maintenance work on U.S. air carriers at foreign aircraft repair stations passed on September 20 of last year (the same day HR 2881 passed a vote on the House floor). There has been no action since then (the resolution now has to be voted on by the Senate).
You can track the status of the resolution here:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-2881
Joe Escobar