Qantas staff “worried about safety”

Friday, 11 Sep, 2008 0

SYDNEY – A majority of Qantas’ maintenance workers believe “corners are getting cut” at Australia’s flagship airline.

But a spokesman for Qantas management dismissed the claims, accusing the union of regularly bringing up safety issues whenever they were in wage negotiations.

The workers claim Qantas’ move to send some of its maintenance tasks offshore has required Australian-based crews to routinely recheck the work and, in many cases, redo it completely.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) conducted the survey of 200 Qantas workers across facilities in Sydney and Brisbane, and at Tullamarine and Avalon airports in Victoria.

The poll comes after a spate of safety-related incidents involving Qantas’ planes, including July’s midair explosion of a 747’s oxygen bottle that forced an emergency landing in Manila.

A union official told AAP, “Our members are extremely concerned about the damage to the safety reputation of Qantas, built up by hard work over the years that is now in danger of being undermined.”

The poll found 83 per cent of the workers were “worried about safety” at the airline because of staffing pressures and the off-shoring of maintenance work.



 

profileimage

Ian Jarrett



Most Read

Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know

Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham

Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago

Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research

Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact

Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference

Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role

Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal

Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination

Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness

Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future

Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
TRAINING & COMPETITION
Skip to toolbar
Clearing CSS/JS assets' cache... Please wait until this notice disappears...
Updating... Please wait...