Jetstar, sweatshop conditions

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20 years 11 months

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Jetstar ground crew were facing "sweatshop conditions", with shifts of up to 19 hours and the number of workers per aircraft as little as a third of manning levels at competitor Virgin Blue, union officials said yesterday.
The Transport Workers Union has asked NSW workplace safety agency WorkCover to investigate conditions at Qantas subsidiary Express Ground Handling after a worker fell off the rear of a Jetstar aircraft and injured his arm while loading luggage in Sydney last Wednesday.
The incident was the second ground handling problem at Jetstar since the low-cost operator began flying in late May.Last month, a Boeing 717 damaged its front entry door at Sydney airport when it reversed away from the terminal with the aerobridge still in position.
In the latest safety scare, the Transport Safety Bureau has requested a full report from the pilots of a Jetstar and a Qantas plane allegedly involved in a near miss at Queensland's Hamilton Island on Saturday.
The TWU says it wants Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon to investigate what it says are deteriorating conditions at the ground handling subsidiary.
It says safety, training, manning levels and systems of work at EGH are all causes for concern and that it is worried the problems are part of a push to reduce conditions across the industry.
But Jetstar denied yesterday that there were safety concerns and said it was satisfied with the way EGH was operating.
"Safety is just simply not compromised," Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said.
Qantas also emphasised its commitment to safety and denied that its subsidiary was working outside its enterprise bargaining agreement.
The stoush over ground handling comes as Jetstar is due today to officially add the first 177-seat Airbus A320 to its fleet, after receiving Civil Aviation Safety Authority clearance on Friday.
TWU official Glenn Nightingale said Jetstar's low fares were coming at the price of exploited and injured workers as well as the safety and security of passengers.
Mr Nightingale said Virgin Blue and Qantas used six workers a plane to unload baggage and freight but that EGH at one stage had six workers handling three Jetstar aircraft.
"It's the epitome of exploitation of workers under sweatshop conditions," Mr Nightingale said.
"It's only a matter of when someone will be killed. Essentially, you have six workers doing the work of what should be 18 workers, with horrendous shifts of 19 hours' duration straight."
In contrast, he said, "Virgin's a low-cost structure and operates with correct manning levels and the appropriate team-based support".
Attempts to obtain comment from EGH were unsuccessful but Qantas spokesman Michael Sharp said the airline was surprised the union had gone to the media without raising the problems with the airline.
Mr Sharp said the number of people used to unload an aircraft varied, depending on several factors.
He said that, on average, Virgin might use five people, while EGH would use four.
Mr Sharp said EGH was boosting the number of ground handling workers.
However, new staff needed to undergo compulsory training and mandatory security checks.
"Everything has to be done according to the book and obviously it is," he said.

Original post

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 841

Hmmm... every time I read something about this airline it's pretty negative. Steve (or any other Aussies), what is the perception of Jetstar to the man on the street? Is it as bad as it seems?

Member for

20 years 10 months

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I have to agree, I have read very little positive about this airline. A review of Jetstar has been put on a.net today, and the summing up of them is one word - Crap!

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24 years 2 months

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Not really very helpful to this thread but...I got chatting to a couple of Jetstar pilots yesterday (converting from the 717 to the A320) and they really were very nice guys indeed!

Member for

20 years 11 months

Posts: 12,842

I've heard nothing but negative reports about Jetstar

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20 years 5 months

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about the only thing going for them is the livery at the moment

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19 years 11 months

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Not much good has been coming out about Jetstar, although they inducted their first Airbus A320 the other day. I think with QANTAS making a dash to stem off the Virgin Blue tide in the budget/low-cost market they may have overlooked a few things, and perhaps cut some corners?

Member for

20 years 5 months

Posts: 10,625

Not much good has been coming out about Jetstar, although they inducted their first Airbus A320 the other day. I think with QANTAS making a dash to stem off the Virgin Blue tide in the budget/low-cost market they may have overlooked a few things, and perhaps cut some corners?

Agreed

I still can't see the sense in going through the expense of buying all new aicraft when they have a pool of existing aircraft to use.
I think that was a move to keep Airbus sweet for future A330 orders.

Seems Jetstar were so keen on gettine new airbuses, they've forgotten to keep the behind the scenes motions up to spec.

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 841

about the only thing going for them is the livery at the moment

LOL agreed - they do have a nice livery

Member for

19 years 11 months

Posts: 1,303

The A320-200s have twice the range of the mini-me B717s, so I guess it will mean they can service the West, as well as further North and South as well. Good news? We'll see....

http://www.jetstar.com.au/img/aboutUs/imageGallery/A320AirToAir/img0.jpg