Staying grounded
I was hopeful that we would learn something from the pandemic we have all endured; but when I read last weekend that the Civil Aviation Authority has approved an expansion of Rex Aviation to start flying 737 jets around Australia in competition with Qantas and Virgin, I'm not sure that we have.
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Last April when the skies were clearer because of global lockdowns, I wrote a warning of the perils of "bailing out the airlines" and suggested that this might be a good time to "rethink the whole air travel industry".
Also it has been shown that paying a little extra for so called "carbon credits" does not work, and will not solve the climate crisis.
Anyway you look at it, we need to reduce the amount of flying we are doing.
I suggest we end frequent flyer points systems and replace them with an AKL, an Air Kms Limit.
When passengers exceed their annual AKL they should be penalised based on the extra distance they wish to fly.
Trevor Scott, Castlemaine
Little hope with insecure work
The government claimed it was serious in their negotiations regarding talks to reform industrial relations, but once again has been exposed as another reason to continue attacking the working conditions of insecure workers.
Now it is understandable that the LNP government would heavily lean to the big business side of the negotiations as they are some of their biggest donors and lobbyists, but it is also understandable that the representatives of the people who are the victims of the increasing casualization of the workforce would be equally concerned as well.
In today's world most businesses are there to increase the wealth of their shareholders and those on the board of management. Sadly and ignorantly, everyone else is seen as a cost to spend as little on as possible.
Real wage growth is non existent, while productivity has risen, but still this is not enough to satisfy some big businesses.
But the one conversation that you never hear about is the performance of the company CEO, and whether, given the present economic conditions, he/ she, should also be subjected to the same scrutiny, or is it only the people at the lower end of the scale to be punished, firstly by insecure work, and now the possibility of even lower wages.
The irony and ultimate insult of this whole argument is this.
Time and again, we see failed CEOs leave companies with millions in bonuses, while an unfortunate worker leaves with the backside out of his pants.
Ken Price, Eaglehawk
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