JOHN HIGHFIELD: First though, it's certainly been another interesting day for the sky wars in Australia's aviation industry. Full of surprises, good and bad. Ansett, on the good side has upped-the-ante, announcing that it has serious considerations for introducing a new discount domestic carrier to the market.
But Impulse, which tonight officially relinquishes its role, has announced, to the shock of its staff, more than 200 of them are to lose their jobs.
Impulse says it wasn't anticipating the pressure to cut the staff when it did its deal with Qantas, but it now seems the callous corporate world rules Australia. Okay. It certainly gives the lie to claims by both Impulse and Qantas, that this was no takeover, and that the workers who accepted special individual industrial agreements, wouldn't be deserted. Tanya Nolan reports.
TANYA NOLAN: It was the confident Qantas chief who told the media earlier this month that there would be no job losses under any merger with Impulse Airlines.
GEOFF DICKSON: There'll be nobody losing tickets. Every ticket will be honoured. Jobs will be kept.
TANYA NOLAN: While Geoff Dickson may have stood firm on the first part of his statement, he's clearly broken his promise on the second point. Qantas has announced it will honour cheap Impulse tickets, valid after the discount airline ceases its interstate flights from tonight.
But Impulse says its hand was forced when the decision was made late last night to shed 70 direct jobs and more than 130 contracting positions. Impulse corporate affairs manager, Simon Westaway.
SIMON WESTAWAY: No, look, it wasn't anticipated. Look, what was anticipated is we knew that airports would be a challenge, and it's just the logistics of it.
Impulse and Virgin Blue, of course, were operating out of separate common user facilities, terminal facilities in airports such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Now, clearly they weren't part of the terminal infrastructure - the significant terminal infrastructure with Qantas and Ansett have had in place in recent years.
TANYA NOLAN: So does Impulse feel bullied by Qantas over this issue?
SIMON WESTAWAY: No, I think it's [inaudible] obviously, I should be careful what I say, but what I can say is obviously it's a tough negotiation. They have to be. And, you know, we're in, you know obviously, in the airline world, and a smaller player, clearly, in the Australian market, but no, we have a good, sound, working relationship with Qantas.
There's always going to be a sticking point in some of these areas, I mean, we're operating out of different terminals and in a different culture, if you like.
Large airlines have expectations in relation to how you handle passengers and how you accommodate passengers. They obviously saw a different perspective in relation to the operations where we conducted out of some of the other airports, and it was always going to be a challenge, and unfortunately it was a challenge which we weren't successful on.
But in terms of the merger and us moving forward, we have a good, sound relationship with Qantas, and we have to - we're going to be a major supplier to them, and we don't hold any great angst towards them. It was just always going to be a tough challenge for us.
TANYA NOLAN: The job cuts will affect Impulse's airport activity in Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra and Brisbane, as well as a number of regional ports. Positions including customer check-in and baggage handling will be managed by Qantas when Impulse effectively becomes a service provider to the 'flying kangaroo', come Monday.
But Qantas maintains the decision to shed jobs was made by Impulse alone, and group general manager of public affairs, Michael Sharp, says the alternative option was much worse.
MICHAEL SHARP: It's important to realise first of all that the great majority of Impulse jobs are being preserved. Let's not forget that, if it weren't for the Qantas-Impulse agreement being formed, you now, probably all jobs would have gone, and so while some ground handling jobs have gone at places where Qantas staff will now handle aeroplanes, the vast majority of Impulse jobs - and we're talking about pilots, cabin crew, engineers, flight operational support, administration support - those jobs are preserved, and, you know, that's an important thing to remember.
TANYA NOLAN: But the fact is, back on May 1, when Impulse and Qantas both announced this merger deal, Geoff Dickson and Jerry McGowan said staff wouldn't be deserted and jobs would be kept. This clearly hasn't happened.
SIMON WESTAWAY: What they said at that time was that they would preserve as many Impulse jobs as possible, and at that time it certainly was recognised that there would be some job losses.
After all, if Impulse and Qantas are both flying to the same place, and now, Impulse from tonight, will be ceasing operations to those, some of those places, those main cities. And the ground handling will now be undertaken by Qantas. It stands to reason that there would be some job losses. And when the announcement was made on May 1, that would certainly have been recognised.
TANYA NOLAN: Impulse insists its 700 odd staff will be increased, as it makes additions to its fleet, and completes its $10 million heavy maintenance base in Canberra. But Michael Sharp says alterations will be made to Qantas staffing.
MICHAEL SHARP: There will be a small number of Qantas staff affected, and all of those staff will be offered ongoing employment with Qantas.
TANYA NOLAN: What do you mean, affected?
MICHAEL SHARP: For example, they may be offered a transfer from Coolangatta to Brisbane.
TANYA NOLAN: And how many staff would be affected?
MICHAEL SHARP: It's a very small number.
TANYA NOLAN: But predicably, the unions aren't trusting either airline on the issue of staffing. Impulse staff in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, walked off the job today in protest at the job cuts. And giving little indication, they'll be returning to work for the rest of the week.
Julie Bignall, Queensland Branch Secretary of the Australian Services Union, says while staff had suspicions of their fate under the merger, the number of redundancies has come as a shock.
JULIE BIGNALL: I'm unaware of claims Impulse might be making to the effect that Qantas made them do it. I don't think that's the case at all. I think that it takes two to tango and obviously, they have been discussing these arrangements for the last three weeks.
They tell us that they've made no arrangements with Qantas in relation to staffing, and that's lies in the face. It's comments that have been made both by Impulse and Qantas CEOs, to the effect that there wouldn't be job losses.
TANYA NOLAN: But one party that is not surprised by the job shedding is the Competition and Consumer Commission, which approved the merger deal just last week. Though not part of the ACCC's (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) undertakings on the deal, a source within the commission, says job losses were to be expected.
JOHN HIGHFIELD: Tanya Nolan, with our breaking story this evening.
