Qantas is again on a collision course with unions after its record loss, and the ACTU refuses to rule out industrial action if it is not given guarantees about wages and jobs.
The nation's peak union organisation met senior Qantas executives on Friday, a day after the airline announced a record $2.8 billion annual loss, telling chief executive Alan Joyce that workers were concerned about further job cuts.
ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said he told Mr Joyce that unions still did not accept airline's plan to shed 5000 jobs - half of which have already gone - and remained steadfastly opposed to Qantas's wage freeze.
In December, the airline announced a wage freeze for all employees, including executives such as Mr Joyce.
Mr Oliver said he questioned why workers should be axed or face a pay freeze considering Qantas's announcement on Thursday that it expected to return to profit in 2015.
"We've put it to him very clearly today that we still don't accept the 5000 and we still want to be engaged in a process of consultation and negotiations to minimise the job cuts that have previously been announced," Mr Oliver told reporters outside the Qantas headquarters at Mascot in Sydney.
After the meeting, the airline said there would be no movement on the job-cut plans or the wage freeze.
"We reiterated that completing the remainder of the $2 billion Qantas transformation program, including the reduction of 5000 jobs and a wage freeze for all employees including executives, is key to returning the business to profitability," Qantas domestic chief executive Lyell Strambi said in a statement.
Mr Oliver said it was premature to speculate about industrial action but refused to rule it out.
"But as we said to the executive team today ... morale is low, workers are still coming to work today not knowing if they're going to be tapped on the shoulder and told they're not going to have a job," he said.
The comments came amid calls from unions and politicians and investors for Mr Joyce to be sacked, but Mr Oliver said the problems facing Qantas would remain even if Mr Joyce departed.
"I'm clearly of the view that if Alan Joyce got hit by a bus tomorrow, we've still got the issues that we need to confront," Mr Oliver said.
The ACTU was also concerned about the decision by Qantas to separate its domestic and international businesses, and the possibility of sending jobs overseas.
Qantas insists the structural separation will not result in more job losses.
"We explained that the creation of a separate entity for Qantas International will have no impact on the day-to-day operations, network or staffing," Mr Strambi said.
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