The AMWU has welcomed the move by Qantas to bring heavy maintenance of the A330 onshore and called for guarantees that maintenance jobs would be safe.

AMWU National Secretary, Dave Oliver said that the decision was a step that the union had campaigned for since Qantas first made the decision to send work offshore.

“The announcement of the A330 gives comfort and security to 500 workers at the Brisbane facility and the travelling public.

“We call on Qantas to maintain its Australian reputation and guarantee that all jobs in engineering and heavy maintenance will not be part of last month’s announcement of 1750 job losses.

“Keeping maintenance work onshore is in the best interest of the airline and the Australian travelling public, in terms of quality and safety.

“We encourage Qantas to continue to invest in their local workforce and employing additional maintenance staff to ensure that maintenance can be carried out efficiently. We also call for current contract staff to be transferred to permanent positions.

“We will be encouraging Qantas to continue to bring overflow work back onshore to mitigate the possibility of job losses in maintenance and engineering from the recent announcement,” said Mr Oliver.