Unions are increasingly concerned over Airline Partners Australia's (APA) proposed $11.1 billion takeover bid for Qantas. The buy-out, by the Macquarie Bank-led private equity consortium, has yet to be formally submitted, though the Qantas board of directors has unanimously agreed to the $5.60 a share bid.
Union concerns over the deal include airline safety, job security and the possibility of such problems as the outsourcing of maintenance and call centres, the introduction of more individual contracts (AWAs) and the break-up of the company.
ACTU secretary Greg Combet warned that Qantas jobs in maintenance or call centres could be sent offshore, or that the company could be broken up and parts of it sold off by APA.
Geoff Dixon, Qantas chief executive, and APA have refused to rule out job cuts as a result of the sale of Qantas.
A source in the Qantas maintenance section at Sydney Airport told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly that workers on the shop floor are very concerned about their futures, with fears that jobs will be lost through outsourcing and redundancies.
Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten has also expressed members' concerns that Qantas' excellent airline safety record would suffer if the bid by APA goes through.
Scott Connolly of the Transport Workers Union has called on the federal government not to approve the takeover without a guarantee that APA will protect the jobs and conditions of Qantas workers.
Though APA will have to meet regulatory obligations such as foreign ownership regulations, the federal government has yet to announce any specific conditions on the Qantas sale. Instead, deputy prime minister and minister for transport and regional services Mark Vaile has hinted that APA would be looking at conditions similar to those faced by Air New Zealand in 2000 when it increased its ownership of Ansett to 100%. Those conditions were that: skilled jobs not be significantly reduced, regional routes be maintained and that Qantas remains an Australia-based airline.
However, the Howard government is reluctant to provide any concrete assurances. Vaile's hints do little to ensure APA does not follow the usual path of private equity takeovers: stripping down the bought company and selling off various parts of it to recoup the large debt incurred in the takeover.
Workers' concerns over the possibility of job cuts and attacks on conditions certainly are justified as APA considers ways of covering their huge debt. With the Howard government's track record of attacking workers' rights and conditions through the draconian Work Choices legislation and other anti-worker laws such as the Building Construction Industry Improvement Act, any assurances given to protect workers' rights and conditions over the privileges and profits of consortiums such as APA must be viewed with suspicion.