Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) is planning a round of redundancies that will lay off hundreds of employees by Christmas as part of a cost-cutting strategy, a source has told the Australian Financial Review newspaper.
About 400 positions will be lost both in Australia and worldwide, said the source, who is involved in the process, adding that some managers were unhappy at having to implement the job cuts in the wake of recent publicity about CEO Alan Joyce earning AUD23.87 million Australian dollars (USD16.2 million) for the 2017-18 financial year including bonus shares.
According to the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, Joyce is the country's highest-paid chief executive.
The airline has not disclosed how many people it would lay off. A Qantas spokesman insisted to the newspaper that the number of job losses would not be so high, repeating a company announcement earlier this month that the corporate restructure would focus on head-office roles rather than operational jobs.
“We are still growing in cabin crew, in pilots, and in airport staff,” the spokesman said.
Unions have said that they are not expecting the loss of on-the-ground operational roles. Qantas's human resources department is reportedly still working through the details of the workforce changes, the Australian Financial Review reported.
Qantas' loss-making competitor Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) is also implementing a round of redundancies, having announced 750 job cuts in August.
