The Guardian 26 January, 2005
7000 jobs on a one-way ticket
"We can't sit here and be all-Australian", says Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon, and to prove the point he announced that the Flying Kangaroo intends to send 7000 jobs overseas.
The official press statement was peppered with reassurances such as "we intend to remain a major Australian employer", and "we are totally committed to continuing to grow jobs in Australia".
Yet the crux of the matter remains: "…we reserve the right to make the necessary decisions to source the best possible locations for people, services and products"; and even more bluntly: "we must source more people overseas".
Qantas presently has a workforce of 35,000 with just over 2000 of those jobs based overseas — six percent of its workforce. Moving another 7000 jobs overseas would increase that figure to over 25 percent.
The announcement comes within six months of Qantas trumpeting a record profit of $648 million, a figure which earned Qantas the title of "the world's second-most successful airline", (beaten only by the state-owned Singapore Airlines).
The announcement earned the ire of Qantas flight attendants, who have run a strong campaign to protect Australian jobs.
In December the Flight Attendants Association (FAAA) voted for a three-year EBA which allows Qantas to increase its London-based staff, but only from 370 to a cap of 870. For the larger part of the negotiations, Qantas had refused to sign a deal which included any cap at all on overseas hiring.
Flight attendants were therefore outraged at last week's announcement. "That's it as far as we're concerned. I'll be buggered, come the next three years, whether they're going to have any increased numbers", said Michael Mijatov, Secretary of the FAAA International Division.
Responding to Qantas' excuse that it needs to cut costs to remain competitive in the industry, Mr Mijatov said, "It's become stale and tired, this constant rhetoric about doom and gloom, while at the same time [Qantas executives] pad their pockets like there's no tomorrow".