A union boss has slammed Qantas’ staff culture saying company morale was “absolutely on edge” in several departments at the airline.
Australian Association of Licensed Aircraft Engineers federal secretary Steve Purvinas told the ABC the downgrade was leading to an increase in staff absenteeism of up to 83 % of workers per shift.
“I can use a department in Sydney [as an example]where they require 60 people in each shift,” he said.
“It’s not uncommon for 50 out of 60 people to be sick on any given day.”
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Also speaking to the ABC, an engineer who has been with the company for 30 years says working conditions at Qantas’ aircraft base in Mascot, Sydney have become an “absolute shambles”.
Identified by the pseudonym Mark, he said abandonment, dated technology and cuts to infrastructure and equipment meant engineers were unwilling to do their jobs.
“I feel like I’m working with one hand tied behind my back most of the time,” says Mark.
He said that basic equipment such as stands have now become hard to find, meaning engineers have to “search and find a suitable workplace that is right for the job”.
The lack of specific specialist tools has also led to unnecessary delays.
“They just don’t have the right tools to do all the jobs that we need to do on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “Often we’re trying to find tools because they’ve been borrowed from another port or they need to be calibrated.”
Mark is one of the Qantas engineers who will be on strike for a minute, in industrial action over demands for a 12% pay rise. This is, in part, to make up for four years of stagnant wages.
Purvinas called the strike a “demonstration action,” which is not designed to disrupt commuter operations.
“A one-minute stoppage will of course not harm any airline and also demonstrates our willingness to negotiate in good faith and not try to harm the airline,” he told members.
“We want to allow time to resolve these matters before we have to do anything that even comes close to disturbing the public.”
On Wednesday morning, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said 2022 had been an “extremely difficult” time for the Qantas group. Announcing the airline’s annual results, the group reported an underlying pre-tax loss of almost $1.9 billion and a statutory pre-tax loss of just under $1.2 billion.
Reflecting on the drop in revenue, he said it was “remarkable” that the group had survived the Covid pandemic.
“This brings our total losses since the start of the pandemic to more than $7 billion and lost revenue to more than $25 billion,” he said.
“To put it in perspective, statutorily, Covid cost us more money in the last three years than the previous five years.
“These numbers are staggering and getting to the other side has obviously been difficult.”
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