gobbledonk Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 Only a week after beaming in front of reporters after settling a long-standing dispute with one part of his workforce, Joyce is once again casting a dark cloud over the future of 'his' airlines: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/grave-fears-for-future-of-qantas-and-jetstar/story-e6frfq80-1226263538573 While I find the guy to be a real doomsayer, I have to agree with what he says about flight crew: "Whenever Qantas Group airlines use foreign crew and Australian crew on the same flights, Australian crew operate under Australian wages and conditions and foreign-based crews on the terms and conditions of their domicile country where they are employed and where they live,'' he said. "This is standard practice adopted by airlines all over the world.'' If Jetstar is going to compete with Air Asia, it makes sense that they are better served recruiting from the same pool. The money might be crap by Australian standards, but these folk arent flying the plane. Yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 Sure, Australian jobs are going overseas by the thousands every year. We get the benefits, cheap flights, cheap cars, cheap clothes and it's son nam nar to the Aussie workers who don't want to work for $10 a day. Eventually they WILL be flying the plane, they are all ready servicing them and we will see more and more jobs leave the country, when Howard broke the unions it was inevitable. What about your job? Could someone else do it for half... a quarter... of what they pay you? Or are you indispensable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted February 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 I am under no illusions that they could find someone to do my job for less money, but that someone would need a work permit and the relevant visa. The argument that the unions are mounting against Qantas is that they have a nice loophole with aircrew, but clearly thats a loophole that their competitors are happy to exploit. If I was running Air Asia, I suspect that Thai aircrew would cost me less than Malaysian aircrew - my airline may be based in KL, but if it meant the difference between profitability and 'breaking even' in an industry with razor-thin margins, which do you think I'd go for ? I know its an emotive issue, but I don't know too many travellers who slip the flight attendant a fifty as they step off the plane to compensate them for the long hours they are forced to work. Its a tough industry, but every single FA knows there is a queue of people more than happy to step into their shoes if they dont like the hand they've been dealt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbaron Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 It's funny - Joe Public shakes his head when he reads in the paper local jobs are going overseas, then smiles then he reads the Jetstar advert which will save a few hundred bucks. Same same cheap products made in China - can't have both local jobs in a country like Oz, as well as cheap prices.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 Funny, I'll use air Asia if I'm going somewhere one way because it usually works out about half the price of a return. Mainstream fares can often be as high as 80% of a return. I make 3 or 4 return international flights a year and rarely use the budget airlines, the mainstream guys are usually much more convenient for a competitive price... unless I want to book 6 months ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted February 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 It's funny - Joe Public shakes his head when he reads in the paper local jobs are going overseas, then smiles then he reads the Jetstar advert which will save a few hundred bucks. Same same cheap products made in China - can't have both local jobs in a country like Oz, as well as cheap prices.. And Chinese companies are reportedly subcontracting their manufacturing to countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam, where labor is even cheaper than it is locally. Thats globalisation - whatever we think of Joyce, he didnt invent the concept. We hid behind tariffs for many years in Oz, and it didnt work - I dont have the answers, but we just dont have enough demand domestically to turn back the clock to an era which would have been more palatable to a Bob Katter or a Pauline Hanson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 Why didn't tariffs work? Why have people been brainwashed to believe protectionism is a bad thing? The corporate media absolutely froths at the mouth at any suggestion of it which makes me think it can't be all that bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbaron Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 Tariffs did work as far as protecting local jobs goes.. free trade, while helping out poorer economies, and places like China and India where wages are low, create jobs in those countries, and lower prices in the West. Quite simple really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 Unfortunately it means lower wages in real terms in the west. One of the greatest economic disasters the working classes suffered was the rise of domestic property as an investment. Work out the cost of a house now in terms of a years wages and compare it with the cost in 1980, 1970, 1960 etc. I bought a near the beach city house in Adelaide for $24K in 1980 and paid it off in 5 years while raising kids. Granted it needed a little work but it was on a 1/4 acre block. My ex sold it for $600K in 2005. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baa99 Posted February 8, 2012 Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 Funny how the CEO, CFO, COO, etc. positions aren't outsourced? Think of the huge savings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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