Qantas staff morale ‘absolutely in the gutter,’ as engineers begin one-minute industrial action

A union boss says plummeting team spirit has been felt in every department of the Australian airline, with some shifts reporting an absentee rate of 83 per cent.

A union boss has lashed Qantas’ staff culture saying the company morale was “absolutely in the gutter” across several departments in the airline.

Federal Secretary of the Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association Steve Purvinas told ABC the lowered esteem was leading to increased staff absenteeism of up to 83 per cent of workers per shift.

“I can use a department in Sydney [as an example], where they require 60 people on every shift,” he said.

“It is not unusual for 50 out of the 60 people to call in sick on any given day.”

Want to stream your news? Flash lets you stream 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022 >

The union head said morale was ‘absolutely in the gutter’. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

Also speaking to the ABC, an engineer who has been with the company for 30 years says working conditions in Qantas’s jet base in Mascot, Sydney has become an “absolute wreck”.

Identified by the pseudonym Mark, he said neglect, dated technology and infrastructure and equipment cuts meant engineers were not poised to do their jobs.

“It feels like working with one hand tied behind your back most of the time,” says Mark.

He said basic equipment like stands have now become hard to find which means engineers need to “search and scrounge trying to find a proper work stand that’s suitable for the job”.

A lack of specific specialised tools have also led to unnecessary delays.

“They just don’t have adequate tooling to do all the jobs that we need to do on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “We are often trying to find tooling because it’s either been lent to another port, or out for calibration.”

Mark is one of the Qantas engineers who will be striking for one minute, in industrial action over demands for a 12 per cent pay rise. This is, in part, to make up for four years of stagnant wages.

Mr Purvinas called the strike a “token action”, which isn’t designed to disrupt operations for travellers.

“A one-minute stoppage of course is not going to harm any airline and also demonstrates our willingness to negotiate in good faith and not try and harm the airline,” he told members.

“We do want to give some time for resolution of these matters before we have to do anything that may even be close to disrupting the public.”

Steve Purvinas said it wasn’t unusual for 50 out of 60 members of staff to call in sick every shift. Picture: NCA NewsWire

On Wednesday morning, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said that 2022 had been an “extremely challenging” time of the Qantas Group. Announcing the airline’s yearly results, the group reported an underlying loss before tax of almost $1.9 billion, and a statutory loss before tax of just under $1.2 billion.

Reflecting on drop in revenue, he said it was “remarkable” the group had survived the Covid pandemic.

“That brings our total losses since the start of the pandemic to more than $7 billion and takes lost revenue to more than $25 billion,” he said.

“To put that in perspective, on a statutory basis, Covid cost us more money in the past three years than we made in the five years before that.

“These figures are staggering and getting through to the other side has obviously been tough.”