Qantas called on to halt job cuts following return to net profit
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Version 0 of 1. Unions have seized on a turnaround in fortunes at Qantas to demand the airline halt job cuts in the wake of its return to profit. On Thursday Qantas announced its best half-year result in four years, posting a net profit of $203m, a turnaround from a loss of $235m at the same time last year. The result, which follows a full-year net loss of $2.8bn in 2013-14, was driven by stronger earnings across all the airline’s divisions and on the back of lower fuel prices. The chief executive of Qantas, Alan Joyce, pointed to the carrier’s massive transformation program as the “decisive factor”, saying it had delivered a $374m benefit in the first six months of the financial year. Under the three-year plan, more than 5,000 jobs were to be shed amid $2bn in cuts. But the Transport Workers Union said Qantas should repay its workforce, and that the impressive return to the black could not have been achieved without their sacrifice. “The workforce and their families have borne the brunt of wage freezes and redundancies,” the national secretary of the TWU, Tony Sheldon, said. “Qantas has cut full-time jobs and replaced them with part-time jobs. It is through their hard work and loyalty that the company has turned around and it is time to reward them with job security,” he said. He said the union was particularly concerned about a recent announcement that the airline’s catering division was seeking to make redundancies. “Alan Joyce made just over $2m last year when Qantas posted a $2.8bn loss,” Sheldon said. “Our members meanwhile find it difficult to pay their bills because their hours have been cut or they are employed on a casual basis. We are calling a halt to this robbery of the community’s economic freedom.” Joyce said the transformation program was the main factor in the airline’s “best half-year performance in four years”. “Without the impact of transformation, Qantas would not be profitable today,” he said. “These results confirmed that we are executing the right plan with discipline and with speed. We are meeting or exceeding all our targets as we build a strong, sustainable future for Qantas and grow long-term shareholder value.” |