Excellent analysis by Capt Kremin.
Also excellent point by Captain Peacock:
We could work for free and it won't change a thing with Joyce.
The trouble Qantas has is called Management Group - think. I've seen it before in another industry. Qantas has a behavioral problem in it's strategic thinking that can't be cured without a change of Management and most of the Board.
The management group and Board believe that the entire value of Qantas is encapsulated in the Brand value and the lobbying ability, political connections and business acumen of the Board and management
and nowhere else. This was neatly explained by Margaret Jackson when she commented in the media (which I can't find) words to the effect that "The Qantas Board has done more than anyone else to secure the companys future".
This group - think has penetrated into lower management because they take their cue from their seniors, hence the comments elsewhere about smirking managers, comments such as "you will all be gone in a few years", knowing looks and raised eyebrows. I've seen this management behaviour before too.
This is obvious from the studied and deliberate forms of management bastardisation of its employees that Qantas has made into an art form. There are too many incidents for this to be random stupidity. Why announce that a twelve month "study" is being conducted into b737 overhaul with your job contingent on its outcome? Why ferchrissake even announce that QF's future will be determined on 24th August if not to raise stress levels among affected employees? This is deliberate workplace cruelty.
According to this narcissistic model, Qantas employees are faceless, valueless, easily replaceable cogs in the machine. As such, they should shut up, do what they are told and meekly accept what pay the Management deems sufficient for their services. The closest I can explain it is that they regard employees as something like "dogs that can talk" with the implication that any dog that disobeys let alone tries to bite the hand that feeds it will be euthanased. Asian dogs don't talk back and are cheaper than Australian dogs, that is what the move into Asia is about.
..And euthanasia is exactly what they propose, that is what the New Zealand cadets, closing the engine shop, etc. etc is all about. They wish to eliminate any potential source of informal leadership or excellence that does not reside in the Board and Management - because it is a threat to them. They fear it. They want contractors, and fearful ones at that, who will not give backtalk or any sort of challenge.
By way of comment, I will bet a certain part of my anatomy that the Board and Management are so envious of the leadership under pressure shown by the Captain and crew of QF 32 that they are marked men. They should perhaps think about leaving now. Narcissists hate it when the spotlight shines on somebody else and not them.
So what? Qantas is not a sheltered workshop. It is a business that should be making money for its shareholders. Why does what I've said matter a tinkers curse?
The answer to that is very simple. The Board and Management have got it totally and absolutely backwards. The future of the company is in the hands of its pilots, engineers, cabin crew, front line staff, baggage handlers and caterers.
It is they who control the brand value, not the Board.
At a catastrophic level, one bad mistake by an engineer or pilot and there is no brand value at all. At a slightly lower level, cabin crew and front - line staff can make or break the airlines reputation with every passenger every day and there is nothing the Board can do about it. Come to think about it, even the caterers can do more to influence brand value than the Board.
But getting back to the issue at hand. You need to understand that Narcissists are bullies at heart. Their behavior springs from deep wellsprings of insecurity and self loathing. Ramping up industrial action a little won't work, they will simply use it as an excuse to get themselves on the TV and breast beat some more about the evil unions and how they alone are standing up to the forces that wish to destroy the national icon which is in mortal danger, etc. etc.. Same goes for political solutions, the Board and CEO would like nothing better than to be called into Julia Gillards office, or the bar of the Senate, for a lecture. They would dine out on that for months ("So I told the Prime Minister that yadda yadda yadda.........")
To put that another way, they crave publicity, even bad publicity. It validates their importance to themselves.
Nope, the only way to nail them is a short sharp shock of some kind, the kind of shock that gets the whole nation saying to themselves "WTF are these guys thinking?",
and threatens the Qantas Brand Value, absent a tragedy which no one wants, my guess is that you have to stop them in their tracks, and probably major unrelenting strike action coupled with a masterly advertising campaign is the only way that could happen.
You have to get the message across to shareholders that there is no brand value, non, nil, zero, without Australian workers delivering the product because THEY ARE THE ONES THAT DELIVER THE BRAND VALUE, NOT THE BOARD!
Of course if you fail, then in the longer term the airline push into Asia will fail, taking the shareholders capital, the Board and CEO reputations and your jobs with it, but that is cold comfort to you.
Perhaps it might make sense to contrast the behaviour of Rob Fyffe at Air New Zealand with the Qantas management, I guess you could ask the New Zealand unions what their experience has been....