Qantas

greenpilot

:mad:

anyone see this ??

http://www.herald.ie/news/irish-qantas-boss-is-sent-racist-letter-in-airline-row-2896534.html


not cool

galwayjohn89

Only world to describe them is scum. Surely people have enough cop on to realise the airline industry is cut throat competitive and the restructuring is vital to allow Qantas to continue.

Bessarion

Vuzuggu wrote: »

Only world to describe them is scum. Surely people have enough cop on to realise the airline industry is cut throat competitive and the restructuring is vital to allow Qantas to continue.

I agree with the scum part.....



In terms of the dispute I agree in principle.

Yes restructuring is needed (as with so many large 'legacy' carriers) However the manner of the restructuring is up in the air. QF are making a lot of noise recently about setting up new airlines in other countries. These actions can very easily be interpreted to mean that QF ultimately aims to get rid of all its current staff and replace them with imported staff in the medium term.

There are 2 sides to every dispute and this unilateral action by QF mgmt/board could badly backfire on them.

Regardless of whether they 'win' or not the damage to their reputation is really bad. There are 17 heads of state in Perth at the moment (CommonWealth conference) Think of the number of aides/staffers rom this event going to be stranded, not counting the tourists who were planning on going to teh Melbourne Cup.

Cookie_Monster

Sky reporting the airline has been grounded

Australian airline Qantas has grounded its entire international and domestic fleet in the face of a bitter dispute with unions.

The carrier also said it was locking out all staff involved in industrial action from Monday evening.

The move is expected to cost the company up to £13m a day and affect some 70,000 passengers.

In the UK, four Qantas flights that were due to depart from London Heathrow yesterday did not fly, and another four flights today will also not leave.

Customers who have not begun their journey can get a full refund on tickets for Saturday, today and Monday.

A family wait in an airport where Qantas flights have been grounded.

Qantas said it was necessary to ground all aircraft immediately

It is expected that a number of British Airways flights on Qantas planes will also be affected.

The grounding has also left many delegates from 17 countries stranded in Perth in western Australia, where Commonwealth leaders are meeting.

Qantas has been forced to reduce and reschedule flights for weeks because of a series of strikes over employees' concerns that their jobs were being moved overseas.

The airline's 108 aircraft will remain on the ground until an agreement on pay and conditions is reached with unions representing pilots, mechanics and other ground staff.

Chief executive Alan Joyce told a media conference in Sydney: "I have no option but to force the issue."

He added: "I'm actually taking the bold decision, an unbelievable decision, a very hard decision, to ground this airline.

"Aircraft currently in the air will complete the sectors they are operating.

I'm actually taking the bold decision, an unbelievable decision, a very hard decision, to ground this airline.

Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce

"However, there will be no further Qantas domestic departures or international departures anywhere in the world."

Mr Joyce said passengers left stranded will be provided with accommodation and the airline will help with alternative arrangements.

Members of the Australian Licensed Engineers union, the Transport Workers Union and the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) have taken part in the strikes.

AIPA's Barry Jackson told Sky News: "It's unprecedented and really it has hijacked the nation.

"It really has put everyone on notice and... it's forcing the government's hand on this.

"We really need to address this sooner rather than later and get the aircraft back in the air."

But Mr Joyce hit out at the unions for running "utterly destructive industrial campaigns".

"These unions are sticking by impossible claims, they are not just to do with pay but also the unions dictating how we run our business," he said.

"These are impossible demands. We cannot agree on them because they would ultimately put the Qantas group at risk."

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the grounding could have implications for the country's economy.

sparrowcar

I note the headline title in the link used the words racism.
Is this incorrect? Should it not be xenophobic?

cuterob

there is quite a few Irish people running airlines..it's quite weird

tricky D

Scum is a bit strong for people naturally trying to keep their jobs. If your job was being taken away and given to someone else for a fraction of the wage a few thousand miles away, would you really just lie down and take it?

What Joyce is doing is more than a bit of restructuring, he's looking to offload as many jobs as possible to lower cost economies in the region in a race to the bottom. This is just round one with the loss of 1000 jobs, there are many more rounds to come. Blaming the staff for the stoppage, which he actually called, and for putting the company at risk, when it is he who is making the changes, and a load of other popints in the article, is mere PR spin.

galwayjohn89

I personally don't see scum being harsh enough. There are far more effective ways of keeping your jobs then threatening to kill someone.

donvito99

These people seem to be oblivious to the post 9/11 aviation industry. By the sounds of it, Qantas is an inefficient, "jobs for the boys" type airline that needs drastic re-jigging. Although Joyce has apparently stood over a Aus$250 million turnover/profit/something like that last year, I can see him and the Board going under.

Hopefully Qantas can put this behind itself and survive - inevitably requiring a loss of face, but hopefully remaining a legacy carrier, and that it doesn't go the way of Sabena!

And all for the outsourcing of 1000 out of 35000 overpaid workers (engineers being paid $175000 all in apparently). The claim that Alan Joyce is deliberately running the company into the ground in order to focus on JetStar and its new Asian carriers must be false - although in any other business this would make sense.

No excuses for that tripe that he's received by post - there will always be idiotic, patriotic fanatics out there, particularly in ad lib australia.

RadioRetro

Update, Both sides have been told to end the strike and grounding.

Note Mr.Joyce's pay rise mentioned in the article...

Tenger

donvito99 wrote: »

.......By the sounds of it, Qantas is an inefficient, "jobs for the boys" type airline that needs drastic re-jigging.......

Good to see you are up to speed on the background to the dispute rather than resorting to knee jerk generalisations..........

Joyce recently for a 70% pay increase:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/fury-as-qantas-bosss-pay-rises-71-per-cent/story-e6frg95x-1226131732215




Now AU$5 between 35K workers is feck all but I love the way some CEO's see themselves as untouchable, leadership starts at the top.

niborm

Nice video of things getting under way again...

http://media.theage.com.au/news/national-news/qantas-a380-back-in-the-air-2741955.html?from=newsbox

donvito99

Tenger wrote: »

Good to see you are up to speed on the background to the dispute rather than resorting to knee jerk generalisations..........

Joyce recently for a 70% pay increase:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/fury-as-qantas-bosss-pay-rises-71-per-cent/story-e6frg95x-1226131732215




Now AU$5 between 35K workers is feck all but I love the way some CEO's see themselves as untouchable, leadership starts at the top.

And you have proof to suggest otherwise? The root of the dispute is the outsourcing of 1000 of 35000 workers across Asia, Qantas needs to introduce measures along those lines if it is to compete with Emirates and the ambitious China Southern.

And Joyce is not the most highly paid CEO in the industry. We can all agree that $5 million is far to much based on his performance, but this is capitalism mate.

BrianD

donvito99 wrote: »

And you have proof to suggest otherwise? The root of the dispute is the outsourcing of 1000 of 35000 workers across Asia, Qantas needs to introduce measures along those lines if it is to compete with Emirates and the ambitious China Southern.

And Joyce is not the most highly paid CEO in the industry. We can all agree that $5 million is far to much based on his performance, but this is capitalism mate.

That's the problem with capitalism. It doesn't seem to be working. There needs to be fairness in the system.

It's difficult to know whether Joyce is cutting costs as a necessity or just to line the shareholders pockets at the expense of the employees.

FlutterinBantam

BrianD wrote: »

That's the problem with capitalism. It doesn't seem to be working. There needs to be fairness in the system.

It's difficult to know whether Joyce is cutting costs as a necessity or just to line the shareholders pockets at the expense of the employees.

Well if the employees don't like the pay rates they should leave then eh?

Bessarion

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Well if the employees don't like the pay rates they should leave then eh?

Nice to see Flutterin' join in to a thread about labour relations........

always thinking of the poor workers aren't you?
Easy to say 'just leave' but what if you have nowhere to go?

The problem with so many jobs in aviation is that the skills are mostly non-transferable outside that sector. So if I work for QF and want to leave, my only choices are Jetstar, JetConnect or Virgin Australia. (2 of which are aprt of the larger Qantas group and may well replace QF)




I would not argue against QF needing to address legacy issues (salary, terms, staffing levels) but a bit of empathy towards your fellow man would be nice to see.....just once.

FlutterinBantam

Bessarion wrote: »

I would not argue against QF needing to address legacy issues (salary, terms, staffing levels) but a bit of empathy towards your fellow man would be nice to see.....just once.

Well then maybe you can explain why labour relations in the aviation industry seem to always go to the brink.

You see,like in Ireland, QF comes from a legacy airline background and issues need to be addressed .

Rolling stoppages is the best way to strangle a carrier and consign it to a slow death.

I often feel that the airline industry is a bit like the HSE ,everybody 'loves their job' is 'run off their feet' but will resist change stubbornly and trenchantly and whinge and gripe for Ireland, backed up by what quite often can be mouthy militants and Unions which need to keep their cash cow happy.

Tail wags the dog quite often I have found eh;)