Qantas strike-threat pilots demand $200,000 each | News.com.au

Qantas strike-threat pilots demand $200,000 each

Qantas pilots claiming pay rise, free flight perks
Will cost airline $317m if it caves in to demands
Qantas chief says future of carrier is in jeopardy

QANTAS pilots stand to pocket almost $200,000 each on average if the airline caves into their demands, with the lion's share going on two free tickets a year to anywhere in the world.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says the future of Qantas as an international carrier is in jeopardy.
26 May 2011Sky News

Figures obtained by the Herald Sun reveal the pilots' claim for a pay rise, added job security and perks such as free flights, would total $317 million - an average of about $190,000 for each of the airline's 1700 flyboys.
Almost half of this - an estimated $145 million - would go towards pilots seeking two free premium economy seats to any overseas destination as a pay-off for Qantas being able to determine when they take their annual leave.
Other costs include a 2.5 per cent annual increase in wages over three years and a re-classification of what each level of pilots is paid, such as raising Boeing 767 pilots to the higher A330 rate (a more than 10 per cent increase) and the Boeing 747 to the A380 pay rate (a 5 per cent increase).

Qantas puts cost of pay claim at $317m

An average 747 pilot earns $350,000 a year and the top pilots earn up to $500,000.
Pilots are preparing to go on strike for the first time in more than two decades, a move that threatens to cripple the national carrier.
The pilots said yesterday that they were striking over job security.
"The future of Qantas is in jeopardy"
Yesterday the airline's CEO Alan Joyce said the future of the carrier was in doubt if action by "rogue union" leaders continued.
Fair Work Australia yesterday approved a ballot allowing long-haul pilots to vote on taking industrial action for the first time in 45 years.
"The continued claim that they are going to take industrial action ... is an attempt at further damaging the brand," Mr Joyce told the ABC's 7.30 program yesterday.
"Unfortunately, this is the way some of these rogue union leaders think."
The demands would result in job cuts, Mr Joyce said.
"They are demands the company cannot agree to and they are demands that will result in job losses in this company," he said.
Mr Joyce labelled both the engineers' and pilots' union leaders as "rogues" who the company was "going to have to stand up to".
Qantas puts the cost of the demands at more than $300 million but the pilots' association says the figure is more like $90 million.
"There are certain demands I cannot concede to because it will endanger the survival of the company," Mr Joyce said.
"Our international business is losing money, our international business, if these demands are met, will go back even further."
Video: Video: Future of Qantas in jeopardy

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