Time for Labor to Muscle Up on Qantas
Friday, 28 October 2011 11:58
News today that the Qantas rolling strikes have already cost the company alone $68 million is deeply troubling. More clearly needs to be done. One can only wonder what the total cost is to the Australian economy.
These strikes will continue to cost Qantas $15 million per week and to put this into context, the Ash Cloud only cost $49 million. If Qantas is feeling the pain, heaven help the small businesses and the tourism sector who have been, and will continue to be hit even harder.
“The endless rolling strikes to which Qantas has been subjected needs to come to an end and quickly. Calls by Unions to boycott Qantas have simply injected an unnecessary element into the dispute as has the Qantas’ executive pay increase,” Senator Abetz said today.
“These unhelpful sideshows are mitigating against settlement and the Australian public and small business are becoming the victims.”
“It’s all well and good for the Prime Minister to give financial advice to her counterparts in Europe and leak it to the media but when Premiers express concerns about the impact of strikes on their states, Ms Gillard labels them as a stunt.”
“Once again, we have the arrogance on display of a Prime Minister who promised ‘no Carbon Tax’ but then defied her promise to impose one.”
“It’s time for Ms Gillard and her Minister to muscle up on this. Their limp approach on the concerns of the Premiers of Australia’s two biggest states as 'media stunts' shows that she doesn’t get it.”
“Simply, Australians will continue to suffer while Ms Gillard and Senator Evans fail to understand the seriousness of the situation,” Senator Abetz concluded.
