Déjà vu?
An article in yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald says Qantas was preparing to “smash” its aircraft engineers union by bringing in recruits trained in Malaysia.
Seems Qantas has hired Newport Aviation to recruit highly trained licensed aircraft maintenance engineers. Fixed-term casual positions pay $2,308 a week with the possibility of a $40,000 completion bonus.
Today, Qantas engineers cancelled plans to strike tomorrow. The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) had been calling for a 5 percent wage increase per year while the airline has steadfastly refused to budge on its 3 percent offer. Today the union said the association would accept a rise of between 3 and 5 percent.
Earlier today, Chief Executive Geoff Dixon refused to rule out the use of strike breakers if negotiations again falter. One would hope negotiations will prevail.
If you went through the Northwest strike what would you say to Qantas maintenance engineers? What would you say to Dixon?
For the newspaper article click here
http://business.smh.com.au/qantas-prepares-to-smash-strike-20080514-2eat.html
Thanks for reading.
Barb Zuehlke
Managing Editor
What did we learn? I don’t know the issues and sure do not know the players. I stood against Lorenzo in ‘89 and would do it again. The issue there was not pay but ownership and airline dismantling. I believe NWA was more over outsourcing but poorly handled by a weak, so called Union (AMFA).
What the aircraft mtce worker needs is a strong trade union (like plumbers or electricians) that all are represented by. All one seniority list, all one pay scale. Stop the cut throat OEM’s with their low pay and benefits. Do give the Majors or Sups our good product at a discount so they can pay dividends to their stockholders and exectives.