QANTAS has been ordered to consider giving workers and unions more detail about the reasons behind cutting 5000 jobs as it starts shedding almost one third of check-in staff at Sydney international airport.
Qantas began offering its check-in staff voluntary redundancy on Thursday, looking to cut about 90 full time jobs from the 300 currently employed at its international terminal in Sydney.
Staff have been set a March 21 deadline to accept the packages, which also include the option of full-time employees converting to part-time.
A decision on which staff could take voluntary redundancy was set to be taken in early April, with the Australian Services Union arguing that the process was being rushed.
Following a two-hour hearing at Sydney's Fair Work Commission on Thursday, Commissioner Ian Cambridge ordered Qantas to consider extending the March 21 deadline by about two weeks.
Mr Cambridge also ordered Qantas to consider giving workers and the ASU far more detail about the rationale behind the job losses.
The airline was also asked to consider other options to mitigate job losses and that no-one be sacked while the current discussions with the ASU continue.
"We are happy with that proposal and we think it's a fair one that will give workers at least some amount of dignity in a very difficult situation," ASU NSW secretary Sally McManus told reporters.
Qantas has been given until Sunday night to consider and respond to the proposals or the dispute will end up back at the Fair Work Commission for further arbitration.
Qantas lawyer Helen McKenzie told the hearing the airline had consulted workers and fully complied with industrial laws.
"Full time employees at Sydney International Airport were today given the option to consider to covert to part-time roles, which will better align staffing levels with peak periods at the airport as well as ... express interest for a voluntary redundancy package," the company said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the federal government attacked Labor for questioning whether allowing Qantas to send its maintenance operations offshore will lead to safety problems.
The new line of attack came as laws to remove the 49 per cent cap on foreign ownership of the airline passed the House of Representatives 83 votes to 53, within four hours of being introduced on Thursday morning.
The legislation, however, is expected to fail in the Senate.
The opposition asked the government whether it had conducted a risk analysis of allowing Qantas - considered one of the world's safest airlines - to move its maintenance operations offshore.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Qantas' safety record did not depend on whether or not it was foreign-owned.
"It's reckless of the leader of the opposition to suggest it does," Mr Abbott said.
Independent MP Bob Katter weighed into the debate, asking how a "cut-rate, cheap-jack, overseas-based workforce" could be trusted to keep Qantas aircraft safe.
Transport minister Warren Truss said the government was talking to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority about the airline's plan to cut 5000 staff over three years to save $2 billion in costs.
The minister told parliament the government would not be changing the Air Navigation Act, which would ensure Qantas' international operations would need to remain majority Australian-owned and based onshore.
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