Before asking our questions your reps and other Brisbane based staff and other shareholders asked a few questions and here is a summary of some of the responses:

Q. Does Qantas support the Coalitions proposed changes to industrial Relations laws?

A. No comment on what the Federal Government may plan.

Q. Why don't Qantas disclose the age of Directors in Annual report like other companies?

A. Don't disclose age - no Directors past used by date.

Q. All the key Executives have received base rate pay rises greater than 3% as well as substantial bonuses, can you understand that staff think there is one rule for Executives and Directors and another rule for the rest?

A. Layers have been taken out of the organisation so there is more work for Executives. Executives have tough hurdles to reach. Don't believe Qantas has different standards for Executives.

Q. You are quoted as saying it is a very dark day in industrial relations because a trade union has written to other shareholders about directors pay rises. This seems to suggest that you think that employed shareholders aren't legitimate shareholders and should be seen and not heard. Is this the reason why the Board stopped shares to staff?

A. Qantas is deeply respectful of staff members and takes questions seriously. Board decided on $1000 bonus in cash rather than shares because believed this cash was valued more by staff and it was an instant contribution.

Q. How much did it cost Qantas to train people to act as strikebreakers in the last financial year and what are the projected costs for this financial year?

A. Cannot say how much is spent on "strikebreakers" can say Qantas values training and spends $100m per year on training staff generally. We will train these people when necessary.

Q. There have been a number of redundancies of permanent staff over the years - what is the growth in casuals?

A. Qantas has around 8% of staff as casuals. The company is projecting to increase the level of casual employees to 18% of workforce. The level of casuals across the whole Australian workforce is around 25%.

Q. Jetstar staff report significantly higher levels of ground rage behaviour by Jetstar passengers to them than in other parts of the Group. This seems to be because of the company's policies on excess baggage and check-in. Are you concerned that Jetstar does not appear to have a comprehensive policy to combat ground rage given the Boards focus on the SAFE program?

A. Qantas Jetstar passengers are getting more used to our policies. Safety is very important on ground and air. Board takes the issue of safety seriously. Overall group have had significant reduction in air rage at airports and in the air - in the air particularly where it is more dangerous and important. Issues with Jetstar with people becoming more familiar with the policies. Believe have reasonable policies to combat these problems.

To hear all of the shareholder questions you can access these on the Qantas website http://www.qantas.com.au/info/about/investors/agms.

Qantas says average worker earns $74,000

Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon told the AGM that the average Qantas worker (not including Executives) earns $74,000 per year. He also told the AGM that the flight attendants get 21 days sick leave and intimated other staff did too until he was corrected by us. We also told him that the average staff members in ASU ranks did not earn this amount - the figure quoted is boosted substantially by Pilots and Engineers wages. As we know 25% of ASU covered employees are part time - earning much less than Geoff's average.

So why the big leap in Directors fees?

Despite the opposition to the increase in Directors fees by the Australian Shareholders Association, the Australian Council of Super Investors and others Qantas says it needs to increase the pool of money for Directors.

Qantas says the Directors fees pool is being increased because of the increase in complexity of the job and the challenges at Qantas. Qantas says that the pool may not be exceeded for 2 - 4 years.

Qantas staff can't be upset

We told the Board that Qantas staff were upset by the massive increase in the pool for Directors. Chairman Margaret Jackson commented that she could not believe that "thousands of staff are focussed on this as the most significant thing in their life".

This perhaps best showed how out of touch the Board can be. Of course this is not the prime focus of everyone at Qantas but the injustice of being told constantly to tighten your belt and take less for your family so the airline can survive is insulting and irritating. Staff are angry because the Board & Executives live by another rule which gives them large pay rises.

Qantas says that Executives have not had bonuses for 2 of the last 4 years - but they have had base rate pay rises above 3%. Qantas says the Board's job has got tougher. So has everyone else's - everyone has more work and is working more intensely.

The resolution results

There was no surprises really on the results of each of the resolutions. The Board members all standing for re-election were confirmed and the Directors fees and share schemes were approved. The full results will be published in newspapers on 25 October 2004.

Interestingly, the votes against the Directors fees resolution were greater than for any other resolution so clearly staff were not the only ones expressing the view against the outrageous Directors fees increase.

Is it worth attending the AGM?

It is absolutely worth attending the AGM and campaigning on the issues of Directors fees and Executive salaries. There is no doubt the views of Qantas staff on these issues cannot be ignored by the Directors and Executives.

Listening to the Directors justify their pay rises was a bit like our EBA negotiations! It is imperative that they are called to account.

There is also no doubt that their actions in increasing fees by 66% has been the subject of much public and media comment - most of which has been extremely supportive of the staff position. This would not have happened if we had not attended the AGM.

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