Events such as QF is facing (and a lot of others) reminds me of a story given at some lecture many, many years ago. Steelworks in Pittsburg family owned was facing tough times, agreement made was all would cut back their hours, no one let go, as production dropped so did the commensurate hours put in by each of the work force, pay cheque declined naturally, but each was getting by, things eventually returned to normal and the owner had earned the undying loyalty of his work force.
Herb Kelleher, co founder of Southwest, from reading seemed to have had a similar loyalty from his work force.
Any business is a triumvirate, investors, management and those at the coal face. In fact all three are investors, those with cash, those with management talent, and those at the coal face with the necessary skills (check in, IT, engineer, pilot, CC, baggage handler, tug driver etc etc). Only two on that triangle seem to be acknowledged as having any investment in a businesses success if the financial pages are a guide.