Posted on 12/25/2007 1:08:47 AM PST by bruinbirdman
Australia's national airline, Qantas Airways Ltd., is offering $86,500 six-month contracts to engineers from Air New Zealand (ANZ) and its former engineers to have substitutes for 1,700 engineering staff who plan to go on strike on Jan. 9.
But New Zealand's Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, which includes ANZ engineers, advised members to reject the offer, which is almost double the pay of the 400 engineers Qantas laid off from its heavy maintenance base in Sydney last year.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA), believes the former engineers will not take the lucrative offer.
Talks on pay and working conditions between the Qantas management and the union collapsed last week threatening to disrupt operations and strand or turn away holiday travellers.
The ALAEA members plan to hold four-hour work stoppages that will delay safety inspections of Qantas' 213 aircrafts.
At a little over $75,000 US, this seems like a pretty good salary for 6 months. I wonder if the labor movement there is capable of learning from what happen to the labor movement here when outrageous demands were made.
And they have a heck of a great holiday, too.
Happy Qanzaa, everyone!
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