Campaign to save Qantas jobs

Date: 28 February 2006

Qantas maintenance workers at Melbourne Airport will meet today as a part of their campaign against Qantas outsourcing their jobs to Asia.

The workers members of the Australian Workers' Union and the AMWU will meet at Tullamarine Airport at 2.00 pm to provide information for the flying public about the problems of Qantas outsourcing the maintenance of their fleet.

AWU National Secretary Bill Shorten who will be addressing the workers said that the workers are keen to ensuring Qantas' customers are aware of what the company plans to do.

"For decades, Qantas has been proud of its identity as the "Spirit of Australia" now it seems they are willing to risk the public goodwill towards to Qantas by outsourcing the maintenance of their aircraft to Asia just to save a few bucks" Mr. Shorten said.

Mr. Shorten has cited the recent Morgan Poll commissioned by the AWU which demonstrates massive public opposition to Qantas' moves to outsource their maintenance and well as a large level of support for the unions' campaign.

"We know that the vast majority of Australians support us in this campaign. Our polling showed that 87% of Australians don't want to see Qantas send their maintenance overseas" Mr. Shorten said.

"Qantas has only been able to keep its unrivalled safety record due to the high standards of work carried out by their Australian employees"

"Its time for Geoff Dixon to come to the table and resolve this issue once and for all, the message from Qantas workers and the travelling public is clear - we want Qantas to remain the "Spirit of Australia" by keeping our jobs in our country."

More information on the Morgan Poll is available by clicking here.

For further information

Union:	The Australian Workers' Union
Phone:	03 8327 0888
WWW:	http://www.awu.net.au

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