I’d like to take this opportunity to inform members of some matters relevant to the current Qantas EA dispute.

Sydney Work Stoppage on Friday 14 October 2011
The stoppage takes place from 1600 to 2000.  The Rowers Club was booked out and instead a mass meeting will take place at the Bexley RSL Club, located at 24 Stoney Creek Road, Bexley during this period.  Members rostered on and off should attend if possible as our opportunities to run mass meetings has been limited to now.  The press will be invited to the meeting so they have a full understanding of our concerns and hopefully, can cease the biased reporting we have seen to date.

Vietnam Veterans
Over the weekend there is a 40th Anniversary of Vietnam Veterans in Canberra.  Many will be travelling from Sydney on Friday and we will be nominating 3 LAMEs from dayshift and 3 from nightshift to remain at work to ensure the people who have fought for our freedom can get to their destinations for their important occasion.  We will write to Qantas and recommend they allocate these persons to Canberra flights, what they do from there is a decision for Qantas to make.

Kokoda Veterans
These guys are now in their 90’s, heading to Canberra early next week.  We recommend the one hour stoppage in Sydney not take place on Tuesday the 18th October.  Both Veterans groups to contact us are supportive of our cause and have suggested we can get some good media from our assistance.  We don’t think however think that they should be used as a political football, let’s just get them to Canberra as a thank you for what they have given us.  We won’t be commenting publically about it.

Qantas Lies in the Press
I think we have all seen it.  Engineers earning 170k, Alan Joyce earning less than a 380 Captain on an hourly basis, LAMEs wanting a 15% wage rise and the $2 million wage rise for the CEO that isn’t really a rise because most of it is in free shares.  The problem for Qantas is that they keep making up stories that contradict other things they have said.  I spoke on ABC radio the other day prior to the Qantas Spokesmodel, she was clearly rattled and starting to double cross her own stories.  The more they play with themselves in the press, the bigger hole they will dig.  

Advice to Fly Other Airlines
This message is clear.  We don’t take action only to have passengers arrive late to their destinations with Qantas still sitting there collecting the money from airfares.  That would be pointless.  We take it so Qantas have less money to set up the overseas operations that will cannibalise Qantas routes and our job security. At the end of the day the major shareholders will realise that the appointment of Alan Joyce and those who sit around him was a mistake.  They will be gone and 35,000 employees will remain to pick up the pieces of what is left.  When potential customers can see unions working hand in hand with a fair dinkum management team who acknowledge the role Qantas plays in our society, the passengers will return in droves to support what is right and just.  The alternative is to sit back, do nothing and wonder ten years from now “how did we let our great Australian airline die at the hands of corporate greed?”

Live Radio Interviews
We have done a number of these in the past few days and they offer an excellent opportunity for us to get the truth out there.  For members a little lost in what is taking place it may pay to listen to the radio interviews we have posted on the ALAEA website.

Good Faith Bargaining
This Friday we will be in Fair Work Australia seeking orders against Qantas.  On three occasions the ALAEA claims that matters discussed behind closed doors has been leaked publically by the airline.  We are finding it difficult to negotiate in that forum not knowing what they will leak next.

AMEs Travelling To Perth
Some members have reported that a number of AMEs are jumping in our graves and doing what LAMEs normally do at the port.  I recommend members welcome them with the usual smile and let them go about their business.  A couple of workers here or there makes no difference overall and in fact leaves them short at the port they came from.  One sideways look could appear in the papers the next day as a death threat, similar to the one Joyce claims to have received. We noted however the letter he got was angry but contained no threats at all let alone death threats, was 5 months old and signed by the person who wrote it.

Further Stoppages
These will be scheduled in the coming weeks as best we can.  It is intended that meetings be held at every opportunity near your work locations so we can discuss all matters we presently face.  The difficulty arises with dates that avoid negotiation meetings, court hearings, heavy press days, matters for other airlines and the briefings we have with our friends in Canberra.


STEVE PURVINAS
Federal Secretary      

Attachments:

File
20111012_All_Qantas_LAME_Members_Notice_51__2011_RE_QANTAS_DISPUTE_UPDATE.pdf