THE Qantas engineers’ union says it is sick of the company’s human resources managers telling them how to do their job, as negotiations resume for the first time since the airline was grounded.
Steve Purvinas, secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, said Qantas was trying to get rid of 128 engineers who perform safety checks on each flight. Such checks would only be conducted at the end of each day, he said, and the union wants the airline to retain 20 of those jobs to maintain a safety oversight over each flight.
By early afternoon, Qantas shares were down 1 cent to $1.605 in a weaker broader market.
“They just say we don’t have to do any more checks on aircraft that they think are unnecessary but we say they are required for safety reasons,” Mr Purvinas said today.
“Quite frankly, we’re sick of Qantas and their HR managers telling us about safety and aircraft engineering.
“They don’t know the difference between a wing and a wing nut.”
The parties have resumed discussions at Fair Work Australia in Melbourne today – the first time since the airline grounded its entire fleet in late October.
In the early hours of October 31, FWA gave the airline and union 21 days to reach a settlement. Under the FWA ruling, if they fail to reach a settlement, there is to be compulsory arbitration.
Mr Purvinas said further negotiations with Qantas would be held in Sydney on Thursday.
“By today, we’ll know whether Qantas are interested in negotiating an outcome or whether they’ll continue to stonewall, which has been the case up until now,” he said.
Mr Purvinas said discussions around pay had been settled and today’s negotiations would focus on job losses.
A Qantas spokesman said all matters remained on the negotiating table.
“There has been no agreement reached on pay with the union despite their claims to the contrary,” the spokesman said.
“We are committed to the negotiations before Fair Work Australia and believe that we should be able to reach an agreement over the 21-day period.”
Meanwhile, Independent senator Nick Xenophon said legislative changes are needed to prevent the Qantas fleet being grounded in the future on the say-so of one person. About 70,000 Qantas passengers were stranded in Australia and abroad when the airline grounded its entire fleet on October 29.
Qantas boss Alan Joyce has said the grounding decision was his alone, made in response to rolling industrial action by unions.
Senator Xenophon said the Qantas Sale Act needs to be amended by parliament to avoid a repetition of such action.
“Never again can a fleet of the nation’s flag carrier be grounded on the say of one person,” he told reporters in Canberra today.
“This was about an industrial dispute and that is something that needs to change.”
Senator Xenophon said Mr Joyce told a Senate inquiry on Friday he had acted unilaterally to ground the entire fleet.
“That is entirely unsatisfactory that it didn’t have to go the board of Qantas where there was no further hierarchy of responsibility,” he said.
source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au
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