Fed: Union to fight for suspended Ansett engineer

AAP General News (Australia)
04-16-2001
Fed: Union to fight for suspended Ansett engineer

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union wants an urgent meeting with Ansett to gain
assurances that suspended engineers will not be made scapegoats.

Ansett suspended four engineering staff following the grounding of its Boeing 767 fleet
last week amid safety concerns.

One engineer is a member of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), who
today promised to meet with Ansett executives to determine why he was suspended.

National secretary DOUG CAMERON says the AMWU is not prepared to accept any of the
engineers being made scapegoats.

Mr CAMERON says strike action has not yet been considered.

The union has repeatedly called for a federal parliamentary inquiry into the effects
of competition policy and deregulation on the aviation industry.

Mr CAMERON says the industry is plagued by a culture of cost cutting which has affected
all airlines as well as the safety watchdog, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, which
grounded the Ansett planes.

AAP RTV sal/mjm

KEYWORD: ANSETT UNION (SYDNEY)

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