Qantas workers push for local maintenance in upcoming wage negotiations
AMWU National Secretary Dave Oliver will address a mass meeting of Qantas maintenance workers at 1pm today, at the Qantas Jet Base, Qantas Drive, Mascot, Sydney, NSW, with Qantas maintenance workers pushing for job security and local maintenance to ensure quality standards in upcoming enterprise bargaining negotiations following mass meetings around the nation this week.
Maintenance workers in Sydney will meet today following joint meetings of AMWU and AWU members already held in Melbourne and Brisbane this week to endorse the log of claims to be given to Qantas management.
Outsourcing and off-shoring of work are key concerns for members following a spate of safety incidents on Qantas aircraft.
A recent survey of AMWU maintenance workers found that 80% disagree that contracting out has improved productivity and efficiency at QANTAS and only 29% agreed that they have faith in QANTAS management to understand issues relating to safety and staffing.
“A well-paid, secure and highly-trained local maintenance workforce is the best way to ensure maintenance quality for Qantas aircraft,†said AMWU National Secretary Dave Oliver.
“Our members are extremely concerned that the safety reputation of QANTAS is in danger of being undermined by management cost-cutting.”
“A recent survey of our members revealed the majority felt the impacts of off-shoring and outsourcing meant work needed to re-checked or re-done more often.”
“In our negotiations we will be seeking commitments to bring work back onshore and in-house.†“Maintenance workers want guaranteed career paths, increased training and apprentice numbers and reasonable wage increases to keep pace with inflation and reflect the value of the work they do.â€
“Unions will be seeking an in-principle agreement no later than the 31st December 2008 in the interests of a successful bargaining outcome.â€
“We will also be seeking guarantees from Qantas that no maintenance jobs will be lost as a result of their latest round of job cuts.â€
“Qantas is Australia’s national airline and its reputation is based on the hard work and commitment of its employees.â€
“Our members are proud of the reputation Qantas has as the safest airline in the world but they are extremely concerned that this reputation could be put at risk through no fault of their own, but by cost-cutting measures, off-shoring and outsourcing.â€
“The core concern for members is quality, fairness and security and our negotiations with Qantas management will seek to get assurances on all of these issues.â€
A Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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