
Issue No 21		09 July 1999

News

Air Attack - Qantas Telesales Under Fire

Qantas is moving on another area of unionised workforce planning to ditch its customer service staff for body hire before relocating them to Hobart.

The move to replace workers at Qantas Telesales Centre in Sydney with labour hire is seen by the Australian Services Union is an attempt to undercut conditions which were negotiated last year in an enterprise agreement.

The move follows revelations earlier this year that Qantas was planning to foreign nationals from low-wage countries to work as cabin crew for the one-time national carrier.

The latest revelations represent a double blow to more than 300 customer service staff employed in Sydney. First they were informed of their redeployment to Hobart. Then they were told they would lose conditions under the recent EBA, including penalty rates for their round-the-clock shifts.

The ASU has been meeting with Qantas over the redeployment since May, with the company giving them the stark choice of downgrading the EBA or seeing the work put out to body hire.

ASU national executive president Brian Sullivan says it's just another attempt by Qantas management to drive costs down.

"The company is showing no loyalty to the staff," Sullivan says. "When it's a choice between the bottom line or the staff, the dollar wins every time. They accuse of standover tactics, but what is this?"

The ASU is due to meet with Qantas management again next week and is considering legal avenues to resist the body hire push.

Meanwhile, Qantas has announced planned to extend overseas recruitment of cabin crew to New Zealand. This follows the announcement Qantas would employ Thai nationals to be its public face.

And the hearing of unfair dismissals by the LA-6 - cabin crew sacked after being strip-searched at Los Angeles are due to be held in August

The good reputation of a one-time Australia icon is heading for some turbulence.

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Issue 21 contents

Interview: The Future Is Now
Steve Klaasen is just 22. He works for a union. He explains why he is not an endangered species.

Unions: Showdown at the Hyde Park Plaza
The ACTU's Organising guru looks at the lessons to be learned from the recent dispute.

History: A Rich Vein in the Rock
Every mine, like a human being, has its life. Mount Morgan and Queenstown between 1880 and 1930.

International: Jailed Unionist Freed
Global union voices delight at the release of Indonesian labour activist.

Review: Ten (More) Steps to Revolution
Cultural theoritician Snag Cleaver puts the schooner glass to the Eighties.

Labour Review: What's New at the Information Centre
Check out the latest issue of Labour Review, a resource for unions on industrial developments

» Aussies To Go For Gold in Foreign Uniforms?

» Howard Warned: Time Ticking On Entitlements

» Hotels Charge Triple Time - Now for the Workers

» Air Attack - Qantas Telesales Under Fire

» The Hills Are Alive - With the Sound of Pay Cuts

» National Trust Places Green(back) Bans on Unions

» Body Hire Campaign Hots Up

» Attack of the Killer Skips Rocks City

» A Holiday With a Social Consience

» East Timor: Emergency Public Meeting Called

» Guest Report

» Sport

» Trades Hall

» Piers Watch

» Conference to Heal Rifts in the Labour Movement

» Fabians Scour Poll Ashes

» Holiday Confusion

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