Qantas should reward hardworking staff for their contribution to the record $964.6 million pre-tax profit, according to the airline's largest union, the Australian Services Union.

ASU National Assistant Secretary Linda White said today's profit announcement made Qantas the most profitable and successful airlines in the world, and that this success should be shared with the workforce.

Qantas staff deserve a share of the record profits they have helped create, and we will be making this clear during the current enterprise bargaining negotiations, Ms White said.

Qantas continues to say there is trouble around the corner and that staff cannot be rewarded properly for their work, but with every profit announcement this claim sounds very hollow, she said.

The fact is Qantas can spend $10 million on the most expensive advertisement in Australian history, it can spend billions of dollars on new planes, and it can start up two new low cost airlines this year, but despite all of this it can't find a few more dollars for staff to reward their hard work.  This smacks of corporate greed of the extreme kind, she said.

Ms White said the ASU and Qantas were currently negotiating a new enterprise bargaining agreement, which would set employment conditions for nearly 12,000 of the company's 34,000 workers.

Our members are sure that Qantas executives are already writing their bonus cheques of up to 50% of their base salaries while offering staff a miserly 3% increase this year, she said.

We will be fighting for our fair share, and this means a decent pay increase and working conditions that better balance work and family responsibilities, she said.