Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson is facing her first major test as pilots from the Australian Federation of Airline Pilots (AFAP), employed at Qantas’ subsidiaries Network Aviation (NA) and QantasLink in Western Australia, begin an unprecedented six-day strike. The federation added three more days to an existing strike on Tuesday night that started at midnight. It’s the second strike in a week, after a one-day stoppage last week that saw 35 flights cancelled; Qantas was also forced to cancel east coast flights to bring in aircraft, and to pay Virgin and other charter operators to step in.
The strike comes as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued its latest industry monitoring report that showed that about 5% of flights were cancelled in December, more than double the long-term monthly average. Only 63.6% of flights arrived on time during the month, well below the long-term average of 81.1%.
The industrial action comes after three enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) were voted down by pilots, which surprised even union bosses. AFAP said that Network Aviation pilots are the worst paid in the Qantas group and are denied basic conditions that other pilots across the group get — such as 10 rostered days off, the same allowances, and protection from early shifts after leave. They have not had a pay rise since 2019.
“Qantas management has angered our network members by walking away from negotiations and taking previously agreed items off the bargaining table last week,” AFAP senior industrial officer Chris Aikens told Crikey. “Qantas needs to recognise that our pilots are only seeking the terms and conditions of employment that all other Qantas pilots and the airline industry overall [have access to].”
Crikey has learnt that the AFAP on Tuesday issued a survey about confidence in management, chief pilot Evan Bartlett (the target of much ire from other pilots) and workplace conditions. Any official vote of no confidence in the chief pilot, which is a regulatory position, would force the sleepy airline regulator CASA to get involved. The results of the survey are expected to be damning.
“They have pushed everything to the limit, there is a toxic workplace culture of blame and bullying,” one pilot told Crikey. Many others raised safety issues, such as tired pilots who are angry and frustrated from early mornings and late nights.
“We are operating aircraft [in] remote locations with no support. In many places there is no traffic control or radar, some runways are short and marginal, and there is inaccurate weather reporting,” another pilot said.
Meanwhile senior pilots are leaving, and the Qantas subsidiaries could shortly be forced to bring cadets with under 500 hours of training into cockpits. There is a worldwide pilot shortage, with Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Japan’s ANA as well as US freight carriers such as Atlas actively recruiting in Australia and offering significantly higher wages and conditions.
The pitched industrial battle is all too reminiscent of the attitude of previous management to pilots, engineers and cabin crew. It has also disguised what seems to be Qantas’ real plans for its WA subsidiaries — to become a second (very) low-cost carrier that will slowly take over many of the routes now flown by the far more costly 737 fleet.
NA has purchased nine A319s, very similar single-aisle jets to 737s, from US low-cost carrier Spirit, saving them from the scrapyards, pilots said. The first has arrived and is almost 19 years old. The rest are expected to arrive during the year. Crikey understands Qantas is planning for the planes to take over interstate domestic routes (Adelaide, Hobart, Gold Coast) as well as short-haul international routes such as Perth-Bali — all while its crews remain the lowest paid in the group.
In any case, Hudson’s industrial problems are only beginning, as the company is now in talks with unions about the mainline short-haul pilots’ EBA due in coming months. As one pilot said: “If she offers 9% people will wonder what she is smoking,” but if she “rolls over to Network then she will be beholden to all the pilots in the group”.
By way of comparison, troubled Southwest Airlines in the US just inked a deal with pilots for a 30% pay rise with a further 12% over the next three years.
Elsewhere, Crikey has learnt that Hudson has brought Boston Consulting Group (BCG) back to Qantas Loyalty, following a previous failure there. It’s her third lot of consultants since she started the job six months ago. The previous hire McKinsey was to help her get the planes running on time. BCG was also called in immediately on her appointment to improve the company’s image — and we all know how that’s going.
Expect more turbulence in a Qantas group cockpit near you.
It seems Vanessa Hudson is determined to follow in the footsteps of the discredited Alan Joyce, whose excessive cost cutting business model, coupled with extravagant executive salaries and bonuses, has resulted in Qantas’s reputation being trashed. I recently had UK friends visiting who flew Qantas. They complained of a broken arm rest, non functioning window shade, dirty plane and lost luggage. They swore they would never fly on Qantas again. That is the legacy of Joyce. That Hudson appears to be following his business model is a tragedy for Qantas, its employees and other long term stakeholders. Of course short term investors, stock market gamblers and anti-union ideologues are overjoyed.
I just returned from a Syd-Delhi-HK-Sydney trip on the flying rat. $15,000 part business class/part economy. Inedible food on most legs, disgusting food in the lounges, cheap wines, collapsed broken wornout filthy furniture in the so-called business class lounges, extreme attitude problem from some onboard staff (when I complained about the food, the occupant of 4K was labelled “trouble” and avoided from then on as if I had the plague), religiously 45 minutes late take-off on each leg, limited entertainment options compared to other airlines, no WiFi on any leg. In all, as usual a disgraceful experience from this dodgy company.
Meantime the orchestrator of this strife, former CEO Joyce, is rolling in his multi-millions while budget wages/conditions apply to many Qantas pilots. It takes a great deal of training to qualify as a pilot, how much tuition does it take to trash an airline….?
Hmmm, I don’t know. I think that smarmy pr*ck Joyce would know.
Merely the ability to network in high places to land the cushiest job on the planet: CEO. It’s a sweet, sweet career. The best of them all, really. Can’t fail. Every fail is up to a few extra millions of income.
It sounds like Hudson spent too many years sitting next to Joyce and ticking off on his slashing and burning the workforce activities. Bringing in a raft of cost cut specialist consultants won’t fix this mess. New faces and brains needed.
Just what’s needed to restore the brand’s credibility, use the cheapest pilots available.
…and dodgy, old second-hand planes.
I flew from Perth to Melbourne last Wednesday, and the original flight was cancelled, and I was transferred to a later flight arriving after midnight.
My return flight was also cancelled, and again I was transferred to a later flight arriving in Perth at the peak of a 40 degree day.
On both flights I paid an extra $70 for extra leg room, which I didn’t get. I also bid for an upgrade to business class on the return flight, using a mixture of cash and frequent flier points, which was ‘successful.’ On arriving at the airport, I was downgraded to economy – in a middle seat, which Qantas knows I don’t like, Qantas knows I prefer aisle seats – next to a woman with a toddler (who admittedly was very well behaved, only occasionally kicking me in exuberance, unlike the baby in the row behind who cried frequently).
I thought I’d get an automatic refund, but no – I had to go online and fill out the refund request form.
i wonder if the pilots’ strike was the reason for the cancellation of two flights in two days?
No, it has been a common occurrence for a long while now.