Interpac Business and Migration Solutions Melbourne Australia

(July.19)

Qantas long-haul pilots will take industrial action for the first time in 45 years to stop jobs from going offshore, but they say they have no desire to disrupt flights.

The Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) announced today its members would begin protected industrial action with "brief and positive" in-flight announcements on long-haul international flights and some domestic flights.

AIPA spokesman and Qantas pilot Nathan Safe said pilots would talk about the safety culture, and the experience and the skills pilots provide to Qantas passengers.

The announcements will augment a national billboard and internet website campaign to back the union's pursuit of a "Qantas flight/Qantas pilot" clause in a new enterprise agreement.

"We'll make it quite clear that we feel that those services are under threat and then we'll offer them a chance to find out more through the website," Mr Safe said.

The announcements are due to begin on Friday and, on a long-haul flight from Sydney to London, they can be expected to be heard twice.

Mr Safe said Qantas management still refused to discuss seriously a written agreement to ensure pilots' jobs won't be sent offshore.

"We've seen some very minor offshoring numbers to New Zealand, around 100 pilots fly out of New Zealand under a sham company called Jetconnect that markets and presents itself as genuine Qantas when in fact it isn't," he said.

"We've seen in Jetstar the setting up of bases in Singapore marketed as Jetstar International, and we think the next step will ultimately be to set up a Qantas mainline base in Asia, and that'll see hundreds or thousands of jobs in Australia lost to Asia.

"We think the thin edge to the wedge has begun."

Qantas has rejected the offshoring concerns, saying all Qantas-operated flights would be flown by Qantas pilots.

It says the union campaign is aimed at requiring pilots flying for Qantas affiliates, including Jetstar, to be paid at the same high rates.

"The claim, if it were ever conceded, would drive up airfares, cost jobs and make Qantas airlines and routes unprofitable," it said in a statement.

AIPA has had a range of protected industrial actions approved by members that it will have to implement within 30 days as part of industrial legislation.

"We could have one pilot perform a stopwork action for one minute on one day, and that would allow us to keep all of those options open going forward," Mr Safe said.

"We have no intention or no desire to disrupt Qantas passengers' travel plans."

Asked how likely it was that the Qantas pilots would hold a 48-hour work stoppage, Mr Safe said: "I can't predict how likely or unlikely it is. It is certainly undesirable.

"It's not a path that we want to go down, but the door is open to Qantas management to have sensible discussion with us and recognise that we are providing flexibilities."

Qantas says its long-haul pilots are among the best paid in the business, with an average Boeing 747 captain earning $350,000 a year, including superannuation, while its best paid Airbus A380 captain was on $500,000 a year.

AIPA said the website, qantaspilots.com.au, will explain to travellers why the pilots are taking action against Qantas.

The billboard campaign will feature the message: "When you board a Qantas flight, you expect a Qantas pilot."