Close call ... an exploding oxygen bottle blew a hole in the side of a Melbourne-bound Qantas Airways Boeing 747 in July / AFP
Poll of Qantas staff raises fears "corners being cut"
Concern over quality of maintenance work done offshore
Union poll follows series of safety incidents
A MAJORITY of Qantas maintenance workers believe "corners are getting cut" at the nation`s flagship airline.
They also say the airline`s decision to carry out some maintenance tasks offshore has required Australian-based crews to routinely recheck the work and, in many cases, redo it completely.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) conducted a survey of 200 Qantas workers across facilities in Sydney and Brisbane, and at Tullamarine and Avalon airports in Victoria.
The poll comes after a spate of safety-related incidents which have beset Qantas` planes, including July`s midair explosion of a 747`s oxygen bottle which tore a large hole in its fuselage.
"According to this poll, 97 per cent of our members agree that the best way for Qantas to guarantee maintenance standards is to retain maintenance work in-house, in Australia," AMWU National Secretary Dave Oliver said today.
"They are extremely concerned about the damage to the safety reputation of Qantas, built up by hard work over the years that is now in danger of being undermined."
The poll found 83 per cent of the workers were "worried about safety" at the airline because of staffing pressures and the off-shoring of maintenance work.
It also found 69 per cent believed that maintenance jobs done externally needed to be "rechecked more often".
On the question of whether the work needed to be "redone before it met standards", 67 per cent said this was the case.
A majority of workers (62 per cent) also agreed that, while Qantas had found cost savings in the way it did its maintenance, "corners are getting cut".
The poll was scathing of management, with just 29 per cent of the workers indicating they had "faith in Qantas` management to understand issues relating to safety and staffing".
Mr Oliver said much of the airline`s problems could also be traced back to its reduced intake of apprentice maintenance workers.
"The apprenticeship program at Qantas is unique as it instills safety procedures from the outset and is increasingly rare amongst other airline providers," Mr Oliver said.
"In the early 90s, Qantas` apprentice intake was 1000 per year ... (now) we are lucky to average 100 per year nationally."
A poll taken amongst a group who have a vested interest in distorting the result. This is just more QF bashing.
Posted by: mrdeux 8:14am today
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