Qantas management around the country are busy behind closed doors planning their response to impending industrial action by NUW members.

Click here to see their planned simulation

of how they will manage operations in supply chain during an industrial dispute with the NUW.

What is interesting in all this is that Qantas Management have never genuinely negotiated with the NUW in 16 months of negotiations yet are spending time in the early hours of the morning planning their ‘war games’.  The real question here is:

Are Qantas Management deliberately manufacturing a dispute with the NUW for more sinister reasons?  Time will tell…watch this space.

Click to view Protected Action Ballot Order

Wednesday 2nd September 2008  12pm – Application for Protected Action Ballot

Senior Deputy President Kaufman – Court 9 – Level 5

Qantas yesterday announced a massive AU$970 million in profits after tax, a 44.1% increase on last year’s profits, despite the current fuel crisis.

Additionally, the national carrier also reported a record breaking AU$1.4 billion in profits before tax for the full financial year to 30th June, 2008, representing a 46% increase in profits.

Revenue reached AU$16.2 billion for the year, an increase of 7.5% on top of last year’s figures on the back of strong demand, which saw 7.6 million passengers carried throughout the year, which represents a lift of 6%.

Yet despite these impressive figures, it appears that Qantas are heading for further industrial disputation with their workers, this time with the National Union of Workers across Australia.  In an ‘information bulletin’ distributed by Qantas yesterday, a pay increase of 3% is on offer. The NUW agreement expired in June 2007 and Qantas is still yet to reach agreement with the union with their ‘take it leave it’ pay offer.  The Qantas bulletin further stated that “should the NUW and its members decide to take industrial action, Qantas would be forced to reconsider its position on backpay.”

It is tantamount to blackmail said a NUW Spokesperson..”here we have an employer who has never genuinely negotiated for the past 14 months now threatening their workers with a donkey and carrot approach on backpay if they don’t accept a lousy 3% at a time when the airline has posted a $1.4 billion dollar profit result.”

It is expected that the union will commence industrial action in support of their claims.

The Civil Aviation and Safety Authority (CASA) says it will be carrying out a thorough review of Qantas, following a series of mid-flight dramas.

The latest incident occurred on Saturday, when a Qantas 767 flight to Manila carrying 200 passengers, was forced to turn around after the pilot discovered a hydraulic fluid leak.

A week earlier another Qantas plane bound for Hong Kong was forced to make an emergency landing in Manila after a blast blew a hole in the fuselage.

CASA spokesman Peter Gibson says there is no evidence to suggest there are operational problems, but it is important to make certain.

Mr Gibson says additional checks on top of the normal routine will be carried out over the next two weeks.

“We will be focusing on key areas, such as maintenance, safety systems within the airline and the way Qantas is managing recent incidents,” he said.

“So the Civil Aviation Safety Authority will be digging deep with a special team to make sure that everything is being done properly.”

“This is on top of our normal safety checks that we do on Qantas week in week out… just to make sure that safety standards remain as high as possible.”

Qantas engineers, who are lobbying for a pay rise, also say they are concerned about the recent incidents and argue cost cutting is putting the airline at risk.

Article from:

QANTAS fall guy Bruce McCaffrey has become the world’s first former airline executive to be jailed over a far-reaching global price-fixing scandal.

Mr McCaffrey, the former Los Angeles-based Qantas freight vice-president for the Americas, today received a lighter than expected six month jail term.

He was also ordered to pay a $US20,000 fine. The frail 65-year-old US citizen pleaded guilty in May for his role in the national carrier’s $AUS380 million global price-fixing scam.

Judge John D Bates said today it was a “very, very serious crime” and it was not a situation where Mr McCaffrey was only following orders.

But he added: “It does bother the court that…those most responsible from his company will never face these kinds of consequences and that’s the way the law is.”

Qantas has agreed to pay a $US61 million criminal fine for fixing the price of freight from January 2000 to February 2006 in a worldwide plot to eliminate competition.

Mr McCaffrey – who is in poor health and suffered a stroke 12 years ago and will need a kidney transplant within a year – is the only person so far jailed as part of the powerful US Justice Department’s exhaustive investigation.

Nine internationall airlines have paid about $US1 billion in fines over the conspiracy. Mr McCaffrey was sentenced in the US District Court in Washington today.

The six month sentence was two months less than the terms of the plea deal he made with the US Government. The judge took into account the assistance he has given US investigators.

Five other Qantas former and past staff have denied knowledge of the cartel and because they are not US citizens are unlikely to face charges.

The conduct is not deemed criminal in Australia. Mr McCaffrey’s distraught family have accused Qantas of leaving the veteran employee out to dry and making him the “scapegoat” for the scandal.

He worked for the national carrier for more than two decades before retiring. His lawyers argued he was only following the orders of “corporate higher-ups in Sydney”.

Mr McCaffrey will report to a federal prison on a date that is still to be determined.

Qantas plane makes emergency landing after fuselage rupture

‘Gaping hole from the wing to the underbody’. (Reuters: Handout )

• Audio: Aust-bound Qantas flight makes emergency landing (PM)

A Qantas 747 has made an emergency landing in the Philippines capital Manila because of a large rupture in the plane’s fuselage.

The flight with 365 people on board was flying from London to Melbourne, via Hong Kong when it was forced to land. None of the passengers have been seriously injured.

Less than two hours after flight QF 30 left Hong Kong this morning, the pilot sought an emergency landing at Ninoy Aquino International Airport after reporting a hole in the plane’s cargo section near the right wing.

The plane was flying at 29,000 feet when its fuselage ruptured causing the cabin to lose air pressure.

Passengers on the flight have said that the plane plunged about 20,000 feet and a door apparently popped open.

Qantas has confirmed the plane has landed at Manila and is being inspected on the tarmac, but will not say what caused the emergency landing.

Qantas chief executive officer Geoff Dixon said initial inspections showed the aircraft had sustained a hole in its fuselage, and it was being inspected by engineers.

He said the flight crew performed emergency procedures after oxygen masks were deployed and there were no reports of any injuries.

Peter Gibson from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority says initial reports indicate a problem with the air pressure in the cabin.

“The pilot has some pressurisation warnings about a door on the left hand side of the aircraft, but exactly what went wrong is still being determined,” he said.

The Transport Safety Bureau has confirmed a large hole was ripped into the fuselage in the cargo section of the plane.

Speaking from the Manila airport, passenger Dr June Kane says she heard a loud bang from underneath the plane, and saw debris fly through the cabin.

“I’m looking at the plane now and on the left hand side, just forward of the wing, there’s a gaping hole from the wing to the underbody,” she said.

“It’s about two metres by four metres and there’s baggage hanging out so you assume that there’s a few bags that may have gone missing.”

Dr Kane says she heard the bang while the plane was flying over the South China Sea.

“There was a terrific boom and bits of wood and debris just flew forward into first (class) and the oxygen masks dropped down,” she said.

“We were told that one of the rear doors, a hole had blown into it, but I’ve since looked at the plane and there’s a gigantic gaping hole in the plane.

“It was absolutely terrifying but I have to say everyone was very calm.”

Another passenger, Brendan McClements, says there was a rush of wind and the plane began to shake

“I had my seat belt on and I strapped it on a bit tighter, put the mask over my head and from then on it was like what happens happens,” he said.

A Qantas supervisor in Manila says all the passengers have been taken to hotels in Manila.

She says the situation was not life threatening.

The Australian embassy in Manila is assisting travellers who are expected to be put on another flight later today.

Qantas said the 747-400 was not the one that was used to fly Pope Benedict XVI out of Australia earlier this month after his visit to Sydney.