Essential Report, Polling, Qantas, Qantas Dispute
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of Qantas’ decision to ground all planes last weekend?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Regular air travellers | |
| Total approve | 35% | 23% | 53% | 24% | 47% |
| Total disapprove | 53% | 66% | 38% | 63% | 47% |
| Strongly approve | 13% | 8% | 21% | 8% | 20% |
| Approve | 22% | 15% | 32% | 16% | 27% |
| Disapprove | 24% | 26% | 20% | 26% | 17% |
| Strongly disapprove | 29% | 40% | 18% | 37% | 30% |
| Don’t know | 12% | 12% | 8% | 13% | 6% |
35% approved of Qantas’ decision to ground all planes and 53% disapproved.
Regular air travellers (those who travel by air at least every few months) were split – 47% approved and 47% disapproved.
Those most likely to disapprove were Labor voters (66%), Greens voters (63%), women (57%) and those on low income (60% of those earning less than $600 pw).
Alan Joyce, Essential Report, fair work australia, Julia Gillard, Labor, Liberal, Polling, Qantas, Qantas Dispute, tony abbott, unions
Q. Did you approve or disapprove of the performance of each of the following in the Qantas dispute?
| Regular air travellers | |||||||||
| Total approve | Total disapprove | Strongly approve | Approve | Disapprove | Strongly disapprove | Don’t know | Total approve | Total disapprove | |
| Julia Gillard and the Labor Government | 30% | 49% | 6% | 24% | 22% | 27% | 20% | 30% | 56% |
| Tony Abbott and the opposition | 27% | 45% | 5% | 22% | 21% | 24% | 28% | 36% | 45% |
| Qantas management | 27% | 57% | 6% | 21% | 28% | 29% | 16% | 37% | 56% |
| Qantas workers | 33% | 49% | 7% | 26% | 36% | 13% | 18% | 35% | 55% |
| The Qantas CEO Alan Joyce | 28% | 58% | 8% | 20% | 22% | 36% | 14% | 37% | 55% |
| Union leaders | 24% | 56% | 4% | 20% | 27% | 29% | 19% | 26% | 63% |
| Fair Work Australia | 55% | 21% | 13% | 42% | 15% | 6% | 23% | 62% | 25% |
Overall, respondents disapproved of the performance of all parties to the dispute except for Fair Work Australia, which was approved by 55%.
More than half the respondents disapproved of the Qantas CEO Alan Joyce (58%), Qantas management (57%) and union leaders (56%).
Regular air travellers were more likely to approve of Qantas management and CEO. However, more than half disapproved of all parties except for Tony Abbott and the opposition (45% disapprove) and Fair Work Australia (25%).
Essential Report, Industrial action, Polling, Qantas, Qantas Dispute
Q. Which of the following is likely to cause the most damage to Qantas’ reputation?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Regular air travellers | |
| Qantas’ decision to ground all planes | 59% | 72% | 44% | 77% | 60% |
| Industrial action by Qantas workers over pay and conditions | 32% | 20% | 48% | 18% | 33% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 8% | 8% | 5% | 7% |
59% think that Qantas’ decision to ground all planes would cause the most damage to Qantas’ reputation and 32% think the workers’ industrial action would cause most damage.
Regular air travellers had similar views to less frequent travellers – 60% believed that the plane grounding would cause most damage to Qantas’ reputation.
ER, Essential Report, Greens, Industrial action, job cuts, Labor, Liberals, Nationals, Qantas, Qantas Dispute, Qantas management, Qantas workers
Q. Qantas and its workers are currently in dispute over pay, conditions and jobs. Who do you think is most to blame for this dispute – Qantas management or the workers?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Qantas management | 36% | 54% | 25% | 47% |
| Qantas workers | 13% | 6% | 22% | 4% |
| Both equally | 37% | 30% | 41% | 34% |
| Don’t know | 14% | 10% | 12% | 15% |
36% believe that Qantas management is most to blame for the current dispute and 13% think the workers are most to blame – 37% think both are equally to blame.
All demographic and voter groups are more likely to think management is to blame than workers.
54% of Labor voters and 47% of Greens voters think management is most to blame while Liberal/National voters are more likely to think both are equally to blame (41%).
ER, Essential Report, Industrial action, job cuts, Qantas, Qantas Dispute, Qantas workers
Q. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
| Total agree | Total disagree | Strongly agree | Agree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Don’t know | |
| Moving some operations to Asia is necessary to ensure a strong future for Qantas | 21% | 61% | 6% | 15% | 31% | 30% | 17% |
| Qantas should keep jobs in Australia | 88% | 7% | 51% | 37% | 5% | 2% | 5% |
| Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is overpaid | 73% | 7% | 49% | 24% | 6% | 1% | 20% |
| Qantas employees are overpaid | 20% | 44% | 5% | 15% | 34% | 10% | 37% |
| Union industrial action at Qantas is irresponsible and disruptive | 54% | 31% | 20% | 34% | 21% | 10% | 15% |
| Qantas workers have legitimate concerns which management should address | 67% | 13% | 21% | 46% | 10% | 3% | 19% |
Respondents most strongly agreed with the statements that “Qantas should keep jobs in Australia” (88% agree) and “Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is overpaid” (73%) – but they are more likely to disagree that “Qantas employees are overpaid” (20% agree/44% disagree).
While 54% agreed that “Union industrial action at Qantas is irresponsible and disruptive”, 67% agreed that “Qantas workers have legitimate concerns which management should address”.
61% disagreed that “Moving some operations to Asia is necessary to ensure a strong future for Qantas”.
ER, Essential Report, Industrial action, job cuts, Qantas, Qantas Dispute, Qantas workers
Q. Do you think the Federal Government should intervene in this dispute or is it up to Qantas and its workers to negotiate an agreement?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Federal Government should intervene | 24% | 26% | 26% | 18% |
| Qantas and workers should negotiate an agreement | 62% | 65% | 64% | 65% |
| Don’t know | 14% | 9% | 10% | 18% |
Only 24% think that the Federal Government should intervene in the Qantas dispute – 62% think it is up to Qantas and its workers to negotiate an agreement.
All demographic and voter groups were at least twice as likely to favour negotiation over intervention.
ER, Essential Report, Industrial action, job cuts, Qantas, Qantas Dispute, Qantas workers
Q. Which of the following is likely to cause the most damage to Qantas’ reputation?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Cutting Australian jobs and moving some operations to Asia | 62% | 71% | 56% | 66% |
| Industrial action by Qantas workers over pay and conditions | 27% | 20% | 36% | 22% |
| Don’t know | 11% | 9% | 9% | 12% |
62% believed that cutting Australian jobs and moving some operations to Asia was more likely to damage Qantas’ reputation than industrial action by Qantas workers. Only 27% thought industrial action would cause most damage.
Those most likely to think cutting jobs and moving operations offshore would cause most damage were women (69%), aged 55% (66%), Labor voters (71%) and Greens voters (66%). More than half of all demographic and voter groups believed cutting jobs would do most damage.