The Guardian 22 February, 2006
Legality of Qantas actions in question
Qantas’s threat to send up to 3,000 maintenance jobs offshore may be in doubt under the legislation allowing the Commonwealth’s sale of the national carrier in 1992.
A decision is expected in the next few weeks on whether Qantas will send jobs to cheaper locations overseas, including Indonesia, as part of a shake-up of maintenance operations.
The Qantas Sale Act imposes several conditions on the privatised airline, including rules about the location of facilities Qantas uses, such as the maintenance and housing of aircraft.
The Act states that "the facilities located in Australia, when compared with those located in any other country, must represent the principal operational centre for Qantas".
Australian Licensed Engineers Association Industrial Manager Chris Ryan said he wouldn’t be surprised if Qantas tried to subvert the Act.
"It’s a big hurdle for them", Mr Ryan said. The Qantas Sale Act was defended in 2002 when Federal Cabinet knocked back a proposal to allow foreign investors to own more than a 49 percent stake in the company.
The questions arise amidst media reports that Qantas was considering merging with Garuda Indonesia, considered to have one of the world’s poorest safety records. Garuda has faced trouble in recent times, struggling to pay off debts and compete with cheaper Asian carriers.
The owner, the Indonesian Government, is keen to see an overseas operator take the reigns. Qantas may see it as a potential base for cheap maintenance. Since 1970, Garuda has had nine accidents where at least one person was killed. The most deadly was a 1997 flight which left 12 crew members and 222 passengers dead.
The export of jobs and import of guest labour only add to the pressures on workers to accept lower wages and conditions, as the new industrial relations laws come into effect and the Government sets about turfing single parents and those with disability pensions off their benefits and into the workforce.