Qantas Fleet Grounded 29/10

[11sjw]

Now stupid me looks at the big picture and says why does every single Qantas business need to make a profit?

Isn't that what businesses do?

What's the use of having a huge sum of money tied up in a business unit (ie QF Intl) if it isn't providing a positive return? That money could be better utilised almost anywhere in generating a +ve revenue stream.

That said I've been told QF's accounting might well be dodgy in that JQ Intl's maintenance is paid by QF Intl. No link just what a few QF Intl pilots have told me.

 

[samiam]

Correct. Of course the board is complicit. I've not said otherwise, but what I do suspect is this is AJs mess and even if the board did disagree, they have slim hope of overriding him given their actions of the previous day.

Apologies- its hard to keep track with the difficulty of refreshing threads on here and server lag (maybe boot off the guests!) My point is, that the CEO doesn't make the final call- and the Board have every right to override him (I agree there is slim hope of this happening, given the stance of those who spoke at the AGM).

 

[Berlin]

This whole discussion seems to be very emotional from both sides but I actually have quite a few rational questions in mind that none of the media reports seem to address. Maybe some people here know the answers?

• What is "Fair work Australia" and who gets appointed on there. Are we talking politicians, union members, legal staff like judges? Don't really know much about it
• What kind of decisions could they make? Force QF and the unions into negotiations? Force QF to fly again and call off the staff lock out? Again, not much information to be found.

The reason I am so curious about all this is, of course, entirely selfish as I am booked on a business trip to the US this coming Thursday and have no clue what will be happening by then. I had been affected by both the A380 groundings last year and the Ash cloud earlier this year and can't believe it's happening all over again to be honest!

 

[Kendall Roy]

ABC NEWS reporting that JQ sent out an email to all staff last night stating it was business as usual.

The email was dated WEDNESDAY.

JQ saying it was an typo...... Yeah right! :!:

 

[Foreigner]

With Qantas fleet grounded, I would have thought Tiger would see good opportunity to get on its feet and redeem itself over it's own problems few months back.

 

[Timba-Jet]

Just got up to speed after reading a post by CX on FB lol, been watching sky news for the past hour.

First reaction was complete shock. How can such a move be justified. Unlike other corporates, Qantas are fundamental to Australia's infrastructure with wider economic impacts. So both unions and Qantas have greater responsibility when deciding on industrial action.

Looks like Qantas have taken a short term pain approach looking ahead longterm. Still this is a big bold risky move.

AJ came across well on sky news this morning, union leaders continue to come across too aggressive IMO.

I hope Qantas can bounce back quickly and the employees have some certainty and stability sooner than later.

I'm not sure who is in the right, I just know my work (big corporate) will be heavy impacted. PA colleague has been on phone all morning to corporate TA desperately trying to Virgin flights. Then the impact to the ave member of the public.

 

[MatF]

I'm booked WGA-SYD-BNE tomorrow morning, and have just spent an hour on the phone with AMEX Business Travel trying to get a backup plan in place.

There are no VA or Jetstar seats now available any time tomorrow for SYD-BNE according to AMEX, so my backup plan is Rex WGA-SYD then VA SYD-BNE on Tuesday morning. Bugger. It's amazing how often these things happen when you really need to get there!

While I was on the QF website trying to do an online checkin for tomorrow (yes, optimistic) - which seems to be disabled, I spotted this gem:

 

[JohnK]

If this lasts for 3 weeks, I have 9 QF flights pre paid affected, but on a positive, I have 3 or 4 VA flights unaffected!

I am booked on QF BNE-SYD next weekend and at this stage I am not too confident that Qantas will have lifted the grounding by then. I actually need to get back to SYD as would have been away for 2 weeks and then have another 3 weeks planned in BNE.

A refund of ~$150 for the return flight would not achieve anything. I have also seen what Virgin are charging for that weekend and let's just say that it is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. I wonder if my QF can route my BNE-SYD flights via CBR!

Whilst I don't feel much sympathy for the unions who I feel have brought this on themselves, or the government who have been avoiding this in blind ignorance, I have some sympathy for the lh pilots who have acted fairly profesionally through all of this, albeit some of their demands on the table seem pretty out there.

Any sympathy for those who have nothing to do with, nor care about, this dispute and whose lives and income have been totally disrupted?

Or is collateral damage OK to prove a point?

 

[RSD]

I'm about to head into a studio to record my acceptance speech which is then going to be transmitted to the U.S. for playing at the awards dinner - seeing as how I can no longer be there in person - thanks Qantas!

My speech includes a nice piece about how this has come about due to Qantas employing a CEO that has no passion for the brand and can't communicate with it's staff.

The audience includes the CEO's of a reasonable number of the biggest corporations in America, and a couple of former Presidents.

 

[munitalP]

I'm about to head into a studio to record my acceptance speech which is then going to be transmitted to the U.S. for playing at the awards dinner - seeing as how I can no longer be there in person - thanks Qantas!

My speech includes a nice piece about how this has come about due to Qantas employing a CEO that has no passion for the brand and can't communicate with it's staff.

The audience includes the CEO's of a reasonable number of the biggest corporations in America, and a couple of former Presidents.

Seeing its that important, why don't you just get on another carrier? NZ and Delta will get you there with a minimum of fuss!

 

[rowdy]

The unions have asked Qantas to pay their members more than their competition. I heard one union leader asking the travelling public to fly with the competition. The Qantas board have given him half of what they have been asking for.

The Qantas board have made the decision that there will be less damage to the company by this stoppage than there would have been by the unpredictable rolling stoppages experienced to date. I believe they are correct. The correct decision will never be known.

 

[RSD]

Seeing its that important, why don't you just get on another carrier? NZ and Delta will get you there with a minimum of fuss!

I would do if I could get to an international gateway city! Have tried everything but no available seat is going to get me to where I can get a U.S. bound flight that will get me to there before the dinner starts. I needed to be (and was supposed to be!) airborne this morning.

 

[Vinny]

Currently stuck in SIN and was due to fly out tonight. Lucky I checked the news.

Spent over an hour on hold to QF to be told probably and hopefully able to fly out Tuesday night. They will pay for hotel and $100 for food but only if I provide receipts for every can of drink I buy. Pfft!!

My supply of clean clothes runs out tonight but they weren't interested in what I wore on the plane.

AJ thinks he's made his point and he has. I'll be avoiding QF from now on.

 

[MarkD]

Now stupid me looks at the big picture and says why does every single Qantas business need to make a profit?

Well that's business moody, each division must be self supporting, if a division constantly loses money, without significant gains to the company it must be culled. My small business has faced just such a dilemma in the past( a MUCH smaller scale I know), whereby a certain area was bleeding the rest, we tried several different things, still it bled, and in the end, we cut it loose. The end result is the business stopped struggling now the thorn was removed




Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly app

 

[Kendall Roy]

leigh_howard leigh_howard



Q: while the lockout was planned since Oct 18, actual decision to pull trigger not made until sat morning by Joyce #Qantas

----------------------------

Anyone see issues with ASX reporting/disclosure laws here?

 

[munitalP]

i would do if i could get to an international gateway city! Have tried everything but no available seat is going to get me to where i can get a u.s. Bound flight that will get me to there before the dinner starts. I needed to be (and was supposed to be!) airborne this morning.

sq - per sin tpe lax

 

[ric_melb]

I am not sure a dummy spit in a speech, criticising Qantas management, will go down particularly well with a high powered American audience.
They will either consider it reflects badly on the speaker, fail to understand it, or consider it irrevelant.

 

[medhead]

Just to clarify some facts:

1/ all non-ALAEA/TWU/AIPA staff will continue to be paid - even after Monday.

2/ all staff - INCLUDING ALAEA/TWU/AIPA will be paid through until Monday.

But what I heard reported is that all workers that benefit from the EBA will be locked out. That implies non-union members as well. Do you have more information on this?

 

[PPW]

I have changed my QF flights BNE to CGK (via SYD) tomorrow to SQ. $6,300 lost by QF.

I'm not complaining too much - the SQ flights are about $1000 cheaper and there are many more early return options on SQ.

It certainly is not as much of a concern for me as it is for those passengers stranded here there and every where. I feel for those that might be travelling on tight budgets with little cash to spare fending for themselves in the hope of a reimbursement at some stage by QF.

I hope that this resolves soon - I do enjoy flying Qantas.

 

[stomplad]

IMHO - this is an incredibly naive comment and view that shows you have absolutely no understanding of how government or IR works.

Whilst it may seem "simple" to you - it isn't. And it just doesn't work the way you suggest it would.

Whether the government should have intervene earlier or not is a separate question.

But the question of whether AJ should have picked up the phone and officially requested intervention prior to this drastic action is a flawed understanding of politics and government.

BTW - you do realise that the Trade Unions actually comprise 40% of the structural make up of the ALP. I don't mean 40% of ALP members are unionists, I mean the unions themselves ARE 40% of the Party.

That means you don't get preselected or given a front bench position without the agreement of the relevant union factional heads.

And if this is new to you and you don't believe it - Australian Labor & Julia Gillard: Making a Difference

You are just making a bunch of one sided generalisations about ALP, Government and IR. What is your point? Stab at the ALP?
I think it is YOU who has a flawed understanding about politics and government.