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Summary Australian airline Qantas will cut 500 jobs as it relocates its maintenance work out of Melbourne.
The cutbacks include the loss of 422 jobs at its site in Tullamarine in Melbourne, and 113 posts at its Avalon operations in Victoria.Qantas has been looking at ways of cutting costs after reporting falling profits.The Australian government called the job losses regrettable.Union outrageAustralias Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Bill Shorten, said he was saddened by the news of the job cuts.Job losses for skilled, loyal Qantas maintenance workers are regrettable and my first concern is with the workers and their families tonight, Mr Shorten said.He said Qantas workers would have access to a range of Australian Government employment services.These workers are highly trained, highly skilled, and the government will do everything possible to assist affected workers find new employment.The National Secretary of Australias Transport Workers Union, Tony Sheldon, said the announcement would have severe consequences for the Qantas staff affected and the Australian travelling public.This is yet another example of the militant, arrogant management at Qantas further tarnishing an already battered image of an Australian icon, Mr Sheldon said.In February, Qantas said its profits had fallen 83% in the the six months to the end of December amid rising costs and a slowdown in demand on international routes.It also announced plans to cut costs by 500m Australian dollars (£311m; $423m).On Monday, the company said that it was making the job cuts to help it lower its cost base.Like the manufacturing industry, aviation maintenance is a labour and capital intensive sector, Qantas said in a statement.Our cost base in heavy maintenance is 30% higher than that of our competitors - we must close this gap to secure Qantass future viability and success.The firm said it would look to cover the work from its maintenance operations in Brisbane and Avalon.It also said it would create 35 new jobs in Sydney and Melbourne.Qantas said that following the latest cuts it would still employ more than 30,000 people across Australia, with 5,000 in the Qantas engineering section.
