Qantas executives threatened in bitter strike row

Qantas is facing industrial revolt from all three of its staff unions -- the Transport Workers Union and those representing pilots and engineers -- after announcing plans to cut 1,000 workers as it focuses business towards Asia.

The carrier said Joyce had been the victim of threats, without going into details, but one letter reportedly told the Irish chief executive: "It's coming soon Paddy. You can't even see it."

"The Unions will fight you... Qantas is our airline, started & staffed by Australians, not foreign filth like you," the Daily Telegraph reported the typed threat as reading in part.

The letter said Joyce's "evil plans" would come back to haunt him and he would be kicked out of the country, the Telegraph reported.

The paper also said senior Qantas staff had had their car windows smashed and houses damaged after refusing to strike.

A spokeswoman for the airline confirmed that Joyce had received a death threat but added, "we can't go into any details".

Qantas corporate affairs director Olivia Wirth, who admitted she had also received threats, said workers who chose not to take part in strike action had been bullied and intimidated.

Joyce said Qantas management had "received menacing correspondence, including to their homes" in what he described as "abhorrent, and illegal" acts.

"Those who are in the business of using threats, violence and intimidation to obtain their industrial ends should know this: these tactics are cowardly and deplorable," Joyce wrote in a memo to 35,000 staff.

"They will not work. Anyone who is caught will face the full consequences."

Unions, which are engaged in protracted contract negotiations with Qantas on pay and conditions, have denied any involvement in the threats and questioned Qantas' decision to make them public.

They revealed that union officials have also been on the receiving end of threatening messages, Transport Workers Union (TWU) national secretary Tony Sheldon said.

Sheldon showed nine emails to reporters in Sydney, including one which read: "You lazy dirty bunch of scabs. Pulling strikes at this time of year has finally made all TWU members the most hated in the country."

Another said: "The next bus leaves at midday BE UNDER IT."

Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) federal secretary Steve Purvinas said threatening behaviour was unacceptable and should be taken to the police.

He said it was "a possibility" the threats had been concocted to garner public support for the airline, which is considered a national icon.

"But I don't think that Alan (Joyce) has written a letter to himself for that purpose," he told ABC Radio.

Without naming the company or people involved, New South Wales police said they had investigated a threatening letter that was sent to senior executive in May 2011.

"The author was identified and the matter finalised," a spokeswoman said.

Police were still investigating an incident last month in which an employee received a threatening letter and several phone calls at their home address which were hung up once answered, she said.

Officials are also attempting to confirm reports of malicious damage to cars at a company car park, she added.