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QANTAS JOB CUTS THE HEIGHT OF HYPOCRISY
Yesterday’s decision by Qantas to slash jobs when the company is earning record profits is the height of hypocrisy.
Only yesterday Qantas was advertising for baggage handlers to work in Sydney airport’s ramp services section.
“It makes no sense for Qantas, when making record profits, to cite higher fuel prices as the reason for why it needs to slash Australian jobs - and then on the same day put ads in the newspapers to hire baggage handlers.”
“In one month the company is due to enter into wage negotiations with those very same men and women”, Tony Sheldon, National Secretary of the Transport Workers Union said today.
“It reeks of industrial espionage. Qantas needs to be honest about exactly what it is up to.
“Their announcement seems more like an ambush designed as part of an industrial relations strategy than a genuine response to higher fuel prices.
“Every Qantas worker has had to cope with higher petrol prices. Some are paying $50 more per week than they were a month ago.
“For a company that as recently as Monday confirmed that they were on track to achieve a record $1.4 Billion AUD profit, Qantas best strategy for their growth is to maintain the high productivity of all their staff over the medium to long term.
“The company must now make clear how many employees are going to lose out and from what sections of the business the jobs are going to be cut from."
“The 38 000 men and women who work for Qantas don’t deserve this insecurity. Not when the cost of living is rising as fast as Qantas’ profits”
MEDIA INQUIRIES DANIEL MOOKHEY (0447 692 578)
29 May 2008
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