Thinking out loud, how many shareholders does QF have? If every employee own a small parcel, than wouldn't 30k odd votes at the AGM would potentially be able to sway the remuneration of the board and the execs?
Not even close!!! Along with about a hundred other pilots (all resplendent in our red ties), I attended the QF AGM the day before Joyce shutdown the airline in 2011. At the time, James Strong was the director responsible for the Executive Remuneration part of proceedings. When it came time to vote on the bonuses for each executive, we were first shown the proxie votes (for the stock held by investment managers, hedge funds, super funds and the like) which were usually about 95% in favour. Although the mood of the meeting itself was quite hostile, the vote from the attendees achieved diddly squat. Joyce achieved the lowest overall approval for his bonus - about 92% in favour, if I remember correctly. The corporate sycophants and narcissists seated in the front row applauded enthusiastically at the result.
The world is clearly run by the one percent for the one percent, and my experience that day both confirmed this perception and revealed the AGM process for the farce that it is. After the vote on Joyce's bonus, many pilots walked out of the meeting. As they left the room, Joyce had this strange smirk on his face. The next afternoon I knew exactly what that expression meant. It's very sad that, as I've watched the QF share price drop over these last weeks, my most prominent feeling is one of satisfaction that the shareholding of Alan Joyce Pty Ltd is not worth half as much now as it was at the beginning of the year. It's certainly not shaping up to be the triumphant Centenary Year that he had imagined for himself.
Now back to the VA theme of the thread.