Management don't want Qantas to be fixed! Management are attempting to utilize industrial disputes as the catalyst to collapse the company & slip the Qantas Sale Act. If they wanted to fix it they would have given Borghetti the job. They are trying to use the employees to do the "heavy lifting" - management needs a scapegoat to deflect attention from their own (deliberate) acts of destruction. Why have they continuously boxed SO's & FO's in for the last 5+ years, in effect denying promotion through lack of opportunities when the other group operations appear to be very short? Management figures if they can deny promotion for long enough, these pilots will be forced to make a move, handing them the tool for the collapse.
However, this strategy could backfire big time, and AIPA are well aware of this. The risk for Qantas management is that the pilots
don't conduct any action that seriously disrupts operations. What is to stop AIPA continuously threatening & withdrawing action over an extended period of time.
The longer this goes on, the worse the erosion of Qantas international marketshare will become, with no one else to blame but management. The shareholder pressure will continue to increase on management to answer for the ongoing poor performance, they will be shown the door.
This is a race between the pilots & the shareholders, who will blink first?
By KAVERI NITHTHYANANTHAN
LONDON—EasyJet PLC's Chief Executive Carolyn McCall on Tuesday criticized former management for mishandling labor issues, as the airline offered its pilots a pay rise in a bid to avert potential strike action.
After lengthy negotiations with the British Airline Pilots' Association, or BALPA, easyJet has promised pilots a 4% increase in basic pay, backdated to October 1, and a further 5% increase in flight pay. Pilots will now vote on whether to accept the deal.
"I am going to be blunt. There has been a continued deterioration in relationships between the company and pilots and pilot representatives over the last few years," Ms. McCall said in a letter to pilots. "For whatever reasons, management lost sight of how big a difference having great people makes. It has taken its toll on how pilots feel about working for easyJet, building mistrust and a lack of respect."
Within the letter, Ms. McCall discussed the airline's failure in the past to meet commitments it had made, BALPA said in a statement. The pay package is being put to a membership ballot that will close June 9.
Industrial action by pilots has a crippling impact on an airline's operations. Their skills aren't as easy to replace as, for example, cabin crew, and wet-leasing planes—leasing aircraft that come with a full contingent of staff—is expensive.
In addition to pay increases, there also will be immediate changes to a number of rostering issues ahead of a more substantial review, BALPA said in a statement. The union expects the deal to include shifting some temporary staff onto permanent contracts.
One of the agreements between BALPA and easyJet is for an independent review body with an independent chairperson to look at pilots' work patterns.
Jim McAuslan, the union's general secretary, said easyJet's offer was a "brave and game-changing approach."
"There has been some tough talking but I have nothing but praise for the imaginative move made by Carolyn McCall and easyJet's new leadership. But we all know this will not be delivered without a lot of hard work and proper support," he said.
A spokesman for easyJet said the deal would offer flexibility for its workforce, providing a mixture of fixed and rostered pilots.
The airline previously had agreed to a deal with pilots that encompassed a 1% increase in pay between April 2010 and October 2010.
WSJ MAY 24, 2011, 11:14 A.M. ET