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Qantas chief is target of threat in union dispute
AUSTRALIA’S Qantas Airways’ industrial fight with unions has turned violent, with racist threatening letters sent to the airline’s chief and other management staff, and cars and homes of Qantas staff damaged after they refused to strike.
One letter sent to the Qantas chief, Irishman Alan Joyce (pictured), used racist language and said “The unions will fight you…Qantas is our airline, started and staffed by Australians, not foreign filth like you…”
Joyce said that police were investigating the threats and that he had issued a memo to 35,000 Qantas staff alerting them to the threats.
Qantas has been hit by a series of strikes triggered by a dispute over pay and conditions and plans to cut domestic job cuts as the airline expands in Asia.