Qantas Loses Its Mind

Airline unions are getting ready to fight Qantas after they announced that they will have to sack 1,000 employees because they intend to launch a new airline based in Asia and a new budget airline in Japan.

It’s the same old story, more and more jobs going off shore where labour is cheap, just like Telstra. How can Qantas possibly keep it’s Australian theme if the pilots and cabin crew aren’t Australian? You won’t hear that familiar Aussie accent anymore and that ‘Spirit of Australia’ will be gone forever.

The Pilots Association says somewhere between 100 and 200 pilots will be sacked and safety excellence will be “flushed down the toilet”. Management and admin jobs will also be cut and the aircraft engineers union is seriously thinking of taking Qantas to the Federal court. This interference of an airline that we consider our very own is a terrible shock and airline unions are so upset they have accused Qantas of “betraying” the nation.

The Pilot’s Association Captain Richard Woodward said a shift of operations into Asia will mean employing people working to Asian conditions and standards. "The key strength of the Qantas brand is the safety culture, training and experience of Australian-based Qantas pilots, any reduction in standards in these areas would prove fatal to the airline. After all, what is Qantas selling to Asia if not the world-leading reputation of its pilots and crew?"

But there’s another side to the story - the market likes the idea and after the announcement, Qantas shares have started to go up. So what about the shareholders, should they feel a twinge of guilt that our national airline has sacrificed 1,000 Aussie jobs to make them more money? In your dreams, I hear you say. Peter Allen will be turning in his grave.