An Open Letter to Messrs Joyce, Clifford and Wilson
Dear Sirs
Like you, I am most concerned at the prospect of industrial action by Qantas’ long haul pilots. Like most of my colleagues, I never wanted or expected to be involved in such action when I joined the company, yet I have just voted in favour of it. Since you seem to be having trouble understanding why I would do this, let me clarify a few points.
Captain Wilson, you have threatened that should industrial action proceed, the long-standing relationship between management and QF pilots will change forever. I understand that you have also recently stated that: Alan Joyce does not want to get rid of mainline pilots; that the first 15 787's will go to Jetstar and the rest will come to Qantas, i.e. mainline; and that you do not want the 787's flown under a separate contract. It is wonderful to receive such assurances. I will add them to the list of other assurances we have received over the last decade, all of which have unfortunately proven to be untrue.
Let’s face it, Captain Wilson: for years now we have been lied to, insulted (”I don’t want mainline pilots polluting the culture of Jetstar” – A. Joyce) and marginalized. You will doubtless argue otherwise, but I believe that senior management has acted in a consistently dishonourable fashion towards the pilots of this company. The recent dishonest leaks to the media are merely a continuation of this. If the forthcoming industrial action forever changes our relationship with management, then it can’t come soon enough as far as I’m concerned.
Mr Joyce, you have talked of ‘rogue unions’ and ‘kamikazes’. The BLF was a rogue union. We are not the BLF. We are a bunch of loyal and dedicated professionals who have taken no industrial action for the last 45 years. We are not ‘kamikazes’. If we were, then we might do such as things as constantly talking the company down in public, colluding in a hostile takeover for our own financial gain, willfully neglecting the core business in favour of low-cost startups, and stubbornly persisting with strategies that plainly are not working.
The prospect of industrial action greatly concerns me, Mr Joyce, but what option do we have? Having already seen any prospect of career progression almost disappear, we now realize that our very jobs are under threat. The company is fond of stating that no Qantas pilot has been made redundant in 40 years. Let’s not forget that a couple of years ago, there was a real threat that around 70 pilots would be made redundant unless savings of $8 million were found. We came up with the $8 million, not realizing in our naivety that there must have been a remaining bare corner of Geoff Dixon’s pool room which still needed to be submerged under piles of cash. Now we have a situation where numerous routes have been handed off to other Qantas group entities and there is a management-generated surplus of pilots. Should the 787s be crewed externally, and should ‘Qantasia’ take over more mainline flying, this surplus would be in the hundreds. Mr Joyce, you have created a situation where we have no choice but to take action, and nothing much to lose by doing so (apart from our ‘long-standing relationship with management’, which I think we’ve established we can do without).
Mr Clifford, you have said that you “don’t know what planet these people are on”. Well, we’re on a planet where through the actions of management, our career progression has vanished and our jobs are under threat. We’re on a planet where a once-great brand has been neglected and devalued. We’re on a planet where management continually cries poor and accepts no responsibility for its failures, yet rewards itself handsomely.
That’s the planet we’re on. It’s called ‘Earth’. What planet are you on, Mr Clifford?
Yours sincerely, etc