Ansett employees battle vulture companies

by Peter Mac

The interests of employees of the former Ansett Airlines are being 
progressively sidelined as would-be bidders fight for control of the 
company's assets.

Ansett was placed in the hands of the receivers a few months ago, after the 
Howard Government refused to offer it help to stave off financial collapse. 
Various groups then began negotiations to take over the failed business. 
Among them was a group formed by members of Ansett's own staff, who were 
willing to invest heavily in their own futures, using their hard-earned 
cash and their entitlements.

However, their cause was dashed one day before they were due to submit 
their bid, when Ansett's administrators declared that they had accepted a 
rival bid from Tesna, a company formed by transport magnates Lindsay Fox 
and Solomon Lew.

Despite the administrator's edict, a subsequent bid was received from 
British company Virgin airlines. The bid was viewed with favour by the 
Federal Government, at least in part because Virgin has a strong anti-union 
position, and few of its employees are union members.

The Tesna bid, by contrast, was strongly associated with Labor circles, and 
in particular with former ACTU Secretary Bill Kelty, who is on excellent 
terms with Fox, and who happens to be a member of the board of Tesna's 
parent company, Linfox.

The administrators proceeded to give the Virgin bid their due 
consideration.

And now others have thrown their hats in the ring. As well as Virgin, the 
company Lang Corporation has made a late bid for Ansett.

This company is run by Chris Corrigan, whose Patrick Stevedores did the 
upfront dirty work in the Howard Government's savage attack on the Maritime 
Union of Australia three years ago.

Qantas has also expressed interest in acquiring some of the Ansett assets -
- but not, presumably, the entire organisation.

The battle over Ansett moved into the realm of farce last week when Tesna 
persuaded the administrators to refuse to make the Ansett terminal 
facilities at Canberra and Launceston available for Virgin Airlines' launch 
of new services to Melbourne.

Backing Virgin, the Howard Government immediately expressed its outrage at 
this violation of the best traditions of the world of commerce. The 
Canberra airport management has now also joined the fray, pointing out that 
the Ansett organisation owes it hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid 
rent, which means that it is effectively in breach of its lease agreement.

Meanwhile, back at corporate headquarters the Tesna team was displaying its 
most refined tactics. Asked whether he thought the Lang Corporation would 
be successful, Fox unbuttoned his trousers, bent over and announced that 
"Chris Corrigan can kiss my arse."

On a more serious note, however, Fox expressed particular concern at the 
Federal Government's partisan approach stemming from its obsession with the 
elimination of unions from the workplace.

The Government has favoured the bids of both Virgin and Lang Corporation 
over that of Tesna, and last week Transport Minister John Anderson 
sneeringly refused to discuss the airport terminal issue with "people like 
Mr Fox and Mr Solomon".

Fox later commented that it appeared the government would rather see Ansett 
suffer "cannibalism" than see the Fox bid succeed. He noted, "I think 
ultimately the Government might want Ansett to die."

But wait a minute! What about the Ansett employees, the people who actually 
created the wealth over which others are now fighting so viciously?

The Government has given a grudging commitment to meeting the entitlements 
of retrenched Ansett workers, but this has yet to eventuate.

Some employees are wondering whether this offer will disappear or be 
watered down, if and when the organisation is finally sold.

And in the meantime other organisations associated with Ansett are in 
danger of irretrievable collapse. One such is the tourist agency Traveland, 
which was placed into voluntary administration for a second time, after a 
previous bail-out offer was withdrawn.

Staff at Traveland have been working reduced hours (presumably at reduced 
pay), and have accepted monthly payments rather than fortnightly. Despite 
this, salary payments are now three weeks overdue.

And their entitlements are under a cloud. The Assistant National Secretary 
of the Australian Services Union, Linda White, has called on the 
administrators of the company to make sure that employee entitlements are 
paid as soon as possible.

She could have been speaking for all Ansett employees when she said: "These 
people ... have been subjected to continuing uncertainty, which no 
Australian worker needs to be subjected to".