SYDNEY, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Australia's unions on Tuesday said they would fight against Qantas after the airline announced its plans to lay off 1,000 employees in a bid to boost the company's profits.
Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce on Tuesday said the airline would have to make hundreds of employees redundant, including management positions, pilots, cabin crew and engineering staff.
Linda White, Assistant National Secretary of the Australian Services Union (ASU), the largest union operating at Qantas, said the union's members would not be "flat footed" about the announcement.
"We intend to fight this ... ASU members strongly believe that what makes Qantas great is it is the spirit of Australia," she said in a statement.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) also slammed the plan on Tuesday, saying it would investigate possible legislative or regulatory steps to prevent the Qantas move.
"We cannot see any need for there to be any forced redundancies from the plan announced today and we will seek to ensure that is the case at the earliest possible opportunity," ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence said.
Unions have also sought urgent talks with Qantas management to provide full details of its plans, Lawrence added.
Flight Attendants' Association of Australia (FAAA) said Qantas' announcement was shocking but not surprising.
Secretary of FAAA International Division Michael Mijatov said Qantas called for expressions of interest from cabin crew for voluntary redundancies in June.
Mijatov said 230 cabin crew had taken up the offer, with people expected to leave their jobs from September through to the beginning of 2012.
He said cabin crew and the union were now gearing up for the next round of negotiations on the Enterprising Bargaining Agreement (EBA), which expires in December 2012.
"We are going to start bargaining in November this year, because I know it will be extremely difficult," Mijatov said.
"We will be doing our utmost to engage in negotiations ... to try and make sure that our members have a future."
