Qantas claims it ‘likely wouldn’t be here’ if it had paid subsidiaries’ staff same as direct employees

Airline tells inquiry into Labor’s industrial relations bill it had to adapt its labour practices to compete in ‘highly competitive global market’

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Qantas has warned it could have gone bust if hadn’t been able to offer new staff of its subsidiaries lower pay than the “legacy” conditions of the main airline.

Nathan Safe, Qantas’ acting executive manager of industrial relations, gave that evidence to a Senate inquiry on Tuesday, defending the airline’s “complex” structure as one that had “evolved legally”.

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