AIPA President on Radio National
Just heard BJ stumble and bumble his way through an interview with Fran Kelly on RN. A good start in the Oz this morning where Creedy wrote up the issue of J* employing pilots in SIN to fly into (and presumably around) Australia but it was all downhill after that.
BJ completely lost the goodwill of the interviewer by turning the matter into a union whinge about pay! Where was the standards issue BJ? Where was the suave, confident media manner that most still expect from a senior pilot?
Where was the media brief and the 3 points? Where was the media savvy? Probably more to the point, why did BJ sack the media company that ran the "Your Rights at Work" campaign? Where were the tactics in promoting the issue but most of all - and galling to those who endured his hypocrisy of the Qantas Sale Act case - he raised the issue of the QSA preventing Qantas from operating international passenger services in a name other than "Qantas"!
I almost fell over my chair damn near losing the weet bix!
This was the guy who crticised the previous President for too many court cases! This was the guy who got elected as Presdient by 20 odd COM members on the basis that "If we're nice to them - they'll be nice to us" and most of all . . . this was the guy who dropped the Qantas Sale Act case supposedly to gain access JQ flying for QF pilots - and got nothing for it!
And this was the guy who ran his Presidential campaign on the basis that we needed to stop "things falling through the cracks at AIPA" . . . yep, the cracks may have closed but the yawning chasm has replaced them!
Give it up Barry . . . this morning was the latest example how you have missed every opportunity presented to you. Where's the industrial strategy? Where's the legal strategy? Where's the media strategy? Where's the political strategy? Where the strategy with the fund managers and owners of Qantas?
Yes - being President is difficult . . . it's tough and tough decisions need to be made - you can't be liked by everyone.
Just remember Dicko's words: "Jetstar will never be bigger than 5 aircraft" . . . being nice to them NEVER works.
You missed the boat with J* setting up in NZ last year, you missed the boat with the QSA case and you missed the boat with this morning's hopeless interview. AJ would be even under more pressure from the board and fund managers without your assistance.
As has been said about a higher profile but similarly comic-tragic figure:
"He never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity".