ansett all over again., page-27

mike_au1,

It is plainly obvious to many that QAN currently faces a number of problems on many fronts. There seems to be a lot of discontent amongst the QAN staff and I am not sure it is all about the wages alone. In this regard, some have to ask management to explain why a number of unions are fighting with the company. e.g. The pilots by the way are after a 2.8% wage increase, with an agreement that Qantas Pilots fly Qantas aircraft.

I note that recent posts on QAN seem to focus on whether the workers are paid too much or not. I agree that this issue is important, however it is not the only factor affecting operations at QAN. As I found your post claiming that QAN workers get paid (on average) 170K for 5 months work, I found this hard to believe. In order to find out if this was true or not, I rang a friend of mine (today) who is a Avionics LAME at QAN and has been for more than 25 years. This is what he told me;

1) There is no way ANYONE is on $170K for 5 months work.

2) The average LAME would be on anything from $80K to $120K, depending on licences held, overtime etc.

3) Guys who are 25 years +, highly qualified on a number of different aircraft (both Boeing and Airbus types) would probably be somewhere between $150K and $170K, depending on overtime worked.

He also made a point of saying that there is no 15% wage claim (they want 3%) and also that there is no GO SLOW tactics being used by their union, just no overtime shifts outside of normal hours.

I hope this adds some balance to the issues of wages and wage claims by unions. Having said that, there is a number of issues that QAN have on their hands, let's just hope that a reasonable outcome for both the company and workers can be reached, all this bickering certainly does not move the company forward or increase its attractiveness to potential investors.

BTW, travelled on a QAN long Haul flight recently and the meal was an absolute disgrace, as a shareholder I think they should sack NP and bring in Poh, at least she might create some healthy, tasty dishes, the one I had was DROWNING in oil and not fit for a dog!

Regards,

Surfrat.