CFMEU: Qantas Censors Union Advertisement

Qantas has pulled a series of inflight advertisements promoting Australian jobs for the mining sector, citing “guidelines”, the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) revealed today.

The commercials, which had been scheduled to run for a week, promote the CFMEU’s “Let’s Spread It Around” campaign, which highlights the fact that the benefits of the resources boom have been unevenly spread and that many Australians have tried and failed to get work in the sector, despite an alleged “skills shortage”.

The action has been taken despite the advertising running for a day this week on Qantas domestic flights between Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.

The ads have previously run on Sky News.

CFMEU National Secretary Michael O’Connor today condemned Qantas’s decision.

“This kind of censorship by Qantas speaks volumes about their war on Australian workers,” he said.

“There is nothing remotely controversial about these commercials. On the contrary, they simply make a very clear case that there is two sides to the boom - something the overwhelming majority of Australians would agree with”.

“Given the way Qantas management treat their own staff, perhaps this decision is not so surprising.  After all, this is the organisation that locked out its entire 30,000 strong workforce last year over a union campaign to stop offshoring and outsourcing.”

“I would encourage anyone interested to view the ads and judge for themselves whether there is anything so controversial warranting censorship”.

“Shutting down a point of view in a legitimate public debate is undemocratic and an abuse of power.”