The ALAEA met with Qantas yesterday for the first time since they announced changes to their business last week.  The initial meeting has triggered a process that will see four sub committees established for the purpose of further consultation.  We mainly sat and listened yesterday to what the various Qantas managers claim they will be doing to the business.  Qantas claims to have made final decisions on changes in Line Maintenance and Tech Salaried areas with any future change that may be made regarding Heavy Maintenance to be decided on in the near future.

The ALAEA impressed on the airline the need to follow their own CASA approved Engineering procedures for any change being considered.  Specifically we referred to 1-00-06 – Qantas Engineering – Managing Change.  This procedure outlines the importance of Risks, Human Factors, Safety, Training Needs and Compliance when considering change and requires the airline to gain a commitment from all Stakeholders prior to final decisions being made.  As some changes have already been announced prior to consultation and commitments from employees involved, we consider Qantas to be in breach of their own CASA approved procedures.  Despite words within the document such as “This procedure must be applied”, Gavin Harris stated several times that this specific part of the E&M procedures manual was just a guideline and they didn’t need to follow it.

In our view none of the changes Qantas want are a foregone conclusion and will be discussed with them in further detail over the coming weeks.  Members meetings will be scheduled at appropriate times throughout this period.  We have appointed three ALAEA Executives and our Senior Industrial Officer to head the committees that are being formed.  Federal President Paul Cousins and I will float between the committees on an as need basis.  The committees and issues we face are detailed below –

HEAVY MAINTENANCE

Qantas claim that workloads over the next 6 years will steadily decline as newer aircraft arrive.  They do not believe it to be viable continuing with three facilities and are looking to consolidate into one or two at an undetermined point in the future.  They added that Optimised Maintenance Programs being rolled out will be taking work out of packages and thus work from HM.  They are open minded to options, have ruled out continuing with three facilities but have stated categorically that the only options they are considering will keep what is left in Australia.

The ALAEA will be seeking further information on the figures they are using to calculate future maintenance needs and exploring with them all options to bring work in house.  We are also interested to know how much work has been shifted out of HM packages via OMP to Line maintenance sections and how many jobs this should create.  Our probing of the methods Qantas will use to make a decision will leave no stone unturned and they will not acquire the commitment they require from us as key stakeholders unless it is appropriate to do so.

The ALAEA HM committee will be led by Brett Bradbury who has been a Qantas Councilor on our Executive for 5 years.  Brett has been working in Tullamarine Heavy Maintenance since 1987.  A Representative from Avalon and Brisbane will join him in his work along with ALAEA Trustee Mark Gant.  The ALAEA requested a nominee working for Forstaff be included but Qantas has denied the request.

MOC – TECH SALARIED STAFF

Qantas advised us that they have decided to shift all 737 support functions to Sydney.  This includes MOC, Tech Publications and Tech Officers.  They claim that the move will take place over the May to Aug period.  Numbers affected are 32 MOC, 30 Professional Engineers, 30 from Tech Publications and 30 Technical Officers.  We were advised that 12 new positions would be opened in Sydney and 6 Temp positions would be available.

The ALAEA have concerns over the rushed nature of the announcement, the number involved, how 737 aircraft will be supported and other related matters.  ALAEA Senior Industrial Officer Gary Norris will lead the future discussions on behalf of these members along with yet to be appointed Representatives.

AIRCRAFT RETIREMENTS

Last year Qantas announced the retirement of four 747-400’s and advised us that this would see 30 positions made redundant.  They will now be retiring an extra two aircraft and claim this will allow the release of an extra 40 positions taking the total to 70.  They would like redundancies related to the aircraft retirements to be spread between Sydney Base and the International Terminal.  

The split is as follows -          Base  35 LAME  23 AME.              SIT  10 LAME  2 AME.

The ALAEA questions the numbers involved, the lack of consultation and the absence of similar increases in numbers when new aircraft such as the A380 are added to the fleet.  We don’t know whether the calculations include provision for the return of the Jetstar A330 aircraft as the 787’s arrive and the additional work created through OMPs.

Our Committee for this purpose will be headed by ALAEA Assistant Federal Secretary and Base Supervisor Wayne Vasta along with Qantas Councilors Bobby McGee and Brad Cox.

MAINTENANCE ON DEMAND

Qantas would like to cease carrying out some pre-flight checks and at this stage are not seeking to remove LAME involvement in aircraft Receipt and Dispatch.  They claim that their decision is made despite our protests that the Change Management Procedure has not been followed.  For us this matter is complicated and will be hotly debated in several forums, our plans will not be detailed in this notice.

Should this change go ahead it is claimed that 30 LAME positions country wide will be made redundant.  

The split is as follows -       SDT  12            MDT  10           Bne  4           Adl  4     

Our committee for MOD will be led by ALAEA Vice President Wesley Bell from Melbourne and Representatives from ports that this change may affect.

Clearly our focus at the ALAEA over the coming months will be dedicated to all these matters.  Our number one priority will be securing work for our members for today and the future.  We understand that some members may be eagerly awaiting the opportunity to take a golden handshake and suspect that this opportunity may arrive at some stage this year however it will not be redundancy packages that the Association will be fighting for.

At any stage during the process where redundancy is unavoidable we would of course ask that volunteers be sought and that all avenues be explored to ensure that not one ALAEA member be displaced from employment against their wishes.  We do need to be realistic and if presented with definitive evidence that a particular part of the operation is unsustainable without some change, accept what is before us and make sure that the change is managed in a way that will ensure that the Engineering business is operating safely, efficiently, in a manner that will prevent future similar announcements and to place it in a position to win additional work from other operators.


STEVE PURVINAS
Federal Secretary            

Attachments:

File
Notice 4/2012: QANTAS AND FORSTAFF MEMBERS RE: QANTAS ENGINEERING CHANGES