[Tete_de_cuvee]

Qantas ordered to resume flights following CEO Joyce’s petulant actions which have adversley impacted over 70,000 customers, severely damaged the Qantas brand and alienated its employees.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15513219

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

Industrial action has been terminated by Fair Work Australia.

This means an end to ALL industrial action, by both sides – the ongoing strikes by QF staff, and the lockout of those staff by QF.

QF got the outcome it wanted – an end to months of disruption and the continuing industrial action that has been labelled a ‘death by a thousand cuts’.

Most importantly, both passengers and staff get certainty.

Good result; just a pity it had to take such a tactic to force a resolution.

Now, under Australian law, if the parties cannot agree on all terms of settlement within a given timeframe (generally 21 days though this can be extended), FWA can arbitrate on the long-term settlement and impose a binding agreement.

It’s a very safe bet that the final solution will not include the unworkable and unrealistic ‘job security forever’ clauses the unions have been pushing for.

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

From Binman62: “The level of public support in Australia for is action is so low it cold not be found using an electron microscope. Just tune into any radion station or abc and your will see that the comments are almost universally negative.”

Binman, that is simply untrue. From all the media here in Australia that I’ve been watching, listening to and reading, I would say that the split is about 50-50.

Of course, everyone is unhappy that this action was taken, but about half the commenting public here are blaming the unions; the other half are blaming QF management.

Bottom line – the ongoing industrial action was costing QF something like $15 million per week and the unions were threatening to keep the dispute going for another 12 months! That’s simply unsustainable, and the QF action ensured that the independent umpire (Fair Work Australia) had to intervene to force a solution.

[CXDiamond]

Well done to Joyce, he has shown some iron. Now he has exactly what he needed, an end to wildcat, damaging and thoughtless strikes with no end in sight and if he doesn’t get agreement an imposed settlement which as JohnPhelanAustralia predicts will not include job security for ever guarantees as no organisation would be stupid enough to impose such a thing as only trade unionists would believe that something like that was realistic.

If of course anything as stupid as a job guarantee for ever was imposed there would be no choice but to close Qantas down permanently which of course is what will happen if the settlment is not to the board’s liking.

I thought trade unions learned their place back in the days of Scargill but obviously there are some people around who have failed to learn the lessons of the past and they may need to be repeated albeit painfully for many because few choose not to learn.

[Tete_de_cuvee]

Far from it CXDiamond, Joyce has abrogated his strategic role to Fair Work Australia whilst the reputational damage his action has caused could be very profound and way more expensive than the dispute itself.

His self-aggrandizement and vulgar pay increase at a time of dispute will certainly not aid his case nor endear him to FWA.

Qantas employees and passengers alike will breath a sigh of relief as Joyce is effectively neutered with his cards taken away by FWA – time now to show him the door.

[CXDiamond]

Tête_de_cuvée Now that people can have confidence in Qantas services operating again there will be no damage to the brand.

This event has been well managed mainly over a weekend and the disruption will soon be forgotten about. Qantas made excellent provision for people with generous hotel and meal allowences and helped many people to make good alternative arrangements, I suspect people will remember that and see it as part of an excellent management strategy to bring militancy into line. One or two passengers will move to other airlines having discovered an alternative that they have not yet tried but in the main people revert to what they are familiar with. Others may fly Qantas quite deliberately as a gesture of support for the excellent management.

As you might imagine, I do most of my travel with CX but later in the week I have to go to Sydney for a meeting, if I can fly with Qantas this week I will just to show my support.

[VintageKrug]

This is an excellent result for ALL the people of Qantas.

An end to Union diktat and a re-assertion that Qantas Management have the mettle required to make the Unions negotiate reasonable terms, rather than “impose” their will to the detriment of shareholders, the travelling public and ultimately risk losing their members’ jobs.

In my view, the short period of serious disruption (mostly mitigated by the sensible “re-book with other carriers” policy), painful though it was, was far preferable to a long drawn out dispute causing a great deal of uncertainty as the peak summer holiday and Christmas periods begin and at a time when Qantas can least afford it.

A great result for AJ. Courage indeed.

[Binman62]

A good decision for passengers and staff of Qantas and utter humiliation for the CEO. He really should now be fired for bring this once great airline to the brink.
If he remains then no one should believe that this is the end of the affair.

[FlyingChinaman]

Qantas has done the right thing and IF its CEO has not taken this firm step with their unions, there would certainly be NO Qantas in the future.

I think Qantas should pay him extra bonus for saving the airlines!!!!

[Bucksnet]

It’s sad that a law exists that allows the state to order a private company around in this manner; Gillard is a marxist and is ruining Australia.

And Binman, who is gonna fire the CEO? He has the backing of 97% of the shareholders, who own the company. Firm action was needed and the unions need to realise that they do not run the company.

[VintageKrug]

Not sad at all; it’s right that negotiation takes place.

Although the media has spun this that Fair Work Australia has forced Qantas to start flying again, what has in fact happened is that the Unions have been told to stop their other actions, and forces the Union to reach a negotiated settlement. The Union was already disrupting services.

So in fact FWA’s action were more against the Union than QF management.

Unions can have a tremendously beneficial role to play in industrial relations, and supporting the reasonable rights of any workforce.

It’s when Unions go bad, making unreasonable and commercially unsustainable demands, that situations such as this emerge.

[CXDiamond]

Well said VintageKrug.

Anyone who thinks that the Fair Work Australia mandate is in any way beneficial to the union position is misguided. What has happened is that the trade unions have been forced to suspend action and negotiate. The unions now have no where left to go and will have to accept the very reasonable management position which in my view is more generous than it needs to be.

What a pity we don’t have the same sensible system in the UK, wake up Cameron and learn. That said, I doubt Walsh had the backbone to do the same thing at BA over the situation with the cabin crew more is the pity.

To show my support, I will be flying Qantas later this week, it would be good if others who have the opportunity did the same.

[Bucksnet]

It’s right that negotiation takes place, but not on the orders of the state. It would have happened anyway.

[Hippocampus]

CXDiamond, I think the situation between BA and BASSA was different. Aside from the dispute taking place in different territories with different industrial relations laws and arbitration processes, the whole approach of BA was, to use BASSA lexicon “send a message” to BASSA that they don’t have the power to ground the airline.

What AJ did with his “shock and awe” approach took balls, but I don’t think grounding BA and locking out BASSA members would have been the right approach for BA.

[Tete_de_cuvee]

The similarity though Hippo is both Bassa and Joyce tried a shock and awe approach that was doomed to fail.

The BASSA heirarchy crassly announced strikes for 12 days over Christmas 2009- this action immediately alienated BA employees, many BASSA members, the press and the public. A counterproductive call which badly tarnished their hitherto widely supported legitimate industrial action.

Similarly counterproductive Joyce’s actions, along with his vulgar 71% pay increase, have alienated Qantas Employees, its customers, shareholders and politicians – the future of the company is now left with FWA, (who undoubtably wish to protect the Aussie economy be it tourism or jobs).

Joyce’s alleged aim of a reverse take-over of Qantas by Jet Star by creeping asset transfer to get around Australian ownership regs has been truely scuppered.

http://www.news.com.au/business/crunch-time-qantas-ceo-faces-shareholders-and-unions-at-agm/story-e6frfm1i-1226179319256

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