Thank you for visiting my blog today; I hope you are having a good day.
I don't normally post anything quite like this, but I just had to put my thoughts out there somewhere ;-)
Most Australians would have been shocked with the announcement that Qantas had grounded all their flights this weekend. Qantas says it is the only action left to take to bring the dispute resolution to a head.
Whilst I realise there are always two sides to every story, and there are most probably things I am not privvy to and would not understand completely, but I fully support the workers. I believe they are putting the safety of the airline and its passengers, the security of the employees and the reputation of the company FIRST.
I DO NOT believe that this dispute is purely about pay conditions as the media is constantly reporting - it is more than that. Amongst many other things, from what I understand, Qantas Pilots have been negotiating on a 'Qantas Flight/Qantas Pilot' clause - basically meaning if it is a Qantas flight, then Qantas qualified pilots should be flying the plane. Engineering staff are protesting as moving operations to Asia could have a detrimental effect on the overall safety of the aircraft. Baggage handlers are protesting on workers' safety conditions and pay. I have not heard of any of the Flight Staff protesting, but I would imagine they have some grievances too ;-)
During my investigations to see what all the fuss was about, I discovered the following information about Alan Joyce, from Wikipedia
I quote some of the bits that caught my attention
Career
Joyce worked at Aer Lingus, the flag carrier of Ireland, until he left in 1996 to join the now-defunct Ansett Australia. Joyce spent eight years at Aer Lingus, where he held a wide spectrum of positions in Sales, Marketing, Information Technology, Network Planning, Operations Research, Revenue Management and Fleet Planning.
Joyce left Ansett in 2000 to join Qantas. At both Ansett Australia and Qantas, Joyce headed the Network Planning, Schedules Planning and Network Strategy functions.
Joyce was appointed CEO of Qantas subsidiary Jetstar Airways in October 2003.
Joyce became CEO of Qantas on 28 November 2008. He is a former Director of Orangestar Investment Holdings Pte Limited (holding company of Singapore-based Jetstar Asia Airways and Valuair) and Jetstar Pacific Airlines Aviation Joint Stock Company (in Vietnam).
Ansett Australia, Ansett, Ansett Airlines of Australia, or ANSETT-ANA as it was commonly known in earlier years, was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne. The airlines flew domestically within Australia and to destinations in Asia during its operation in 1996. The airline was placed into administration in 2001 after suffering financial collapse, and subsequent organised liquidation in 2002, subject to deed of company arrangement. Ansett operated for 66 years and 11 days after its first takeoff from Hamilton, Victoria.
This is what I have observed from the above information ........ it took Alan Joyce only 4 years to run Ansett into the ground .......... it has taken him 11 years to have a detrimental impact on Qantas, but Qantas was a bigger company to start with.
The airline is struggling, as most airlines are - fuel is expensive and it takes a lot to provide a good service to their customers - but to award the CEO with a 70% pay rise (as well as other board members receiving a payrise) and not even be willing to negotiate with the core employees about a measley 5% payrise (amongst other things) IS CRIMINAL!
UPDATED news links
Other news links
So thank you so much for sticking with it and having a read of my 'vent' ;-)
On a side note - I was supposed to be in Sydney this weekend with my School Reunion (I would have flown Qantas by choice), but since I haven't been working this year, I couldn't afford to go. I hope my friends that did go are not stranded too long ;-(
I hope you all have a good day - remember, any time spent doing what you love makes it a good day ;-)
Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.
