Qantas: "Board and Managers should resign"

Senior Qantas managers and board members should resign over their support for the failed private equity takeover of the airline, Qantas maintenance engineers said today.

Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) federal secretary Steve Purvinas said the airline needed a new leadership team devoted to restoring Qantas' standing as a world's best airline.

"The reason Qantas has flirted with private equity was that 12 senior managers were offered a sweetener of nearly $100 million," Mr Purvinas said.

"The airline has suffered because managers and board members became more focussed on their own hip pockets than the viability of the airline.

"As it struggles to recover from this misadventure, Qantas could do worse than listen to its 37,000 workers rather than the dozen senior executives responsible for this fiasco.

"If they did, the workers would send them a few simple messages:
- there is a big gap between world's best standards and global minimum standards and Qantas should not be compromising its internationally recognised reputation for safety and service.
- dedicated Australian workers have built this airline and the constant off-shoring of jobs is putting these standards at risk
- and that there is no substitute for investing in skilled staff - because they are the ones that will restore the airline's good name

"Hopefully this failure represents the end of the 'quick fix' strategy of managing Qantas and see a new commitment to raising standards."

more