IMHO, anyone who claims it's all about the money and greedy Qantas workers wanting more dosh has not spoken to many Qantas workers, ie people who have ASICs, wear PPE and keep the aircraft flying, rather than people who do meetings and powerpoint. I'm not one to jump on the blanket Management Sucks bandwagon, because meetings and strategic planning are important (dunno about Powerpoint
), but they're not all that's important. If you're running an airline, you also need all the boring aircraft stuff and motivated, dedicated people to keep it happening.
They may have spoken to a few managers though, because that's the Party Line. Qantas is sticking with the 'we can't afford it, they want everything and we only made a paltry half a billion' in the media because it sidesteps the questions about the culture of bullying, insults and demonization of operational staff that seem to be endemic within Qantas.
Perhaps in a moment of introspection I would admit to being one of those people on the anti-management bandwagon. Now is not one of them.
Where there is smoke there is fire. We have been witness to an appalling litany of poor decisions despite the best advice of frontline staff. He have been left to deal with the consequences of these appalling decisions. There is a major credibility gap and a chronic and long-running debt and deficit in the Goodwill Bank.
There is a saying in the military: "there are no bad units, only bad leaders"; and at my local childcare centre: "there are no bad children, only bad parents"; and at my kid's school: "there are no bad students, only bad teachers."
Sadly, disengagement is evident at various levels in this company. Staff would probably show a little more engagement if our "fearless" leaders made an appearance at the coalface a little more often, and showed - proved - they were as engaged with the workforce as they expect the workforce to be engaged with their strategies.
I'd be happy to rise to the challenge if it was articulated to me face to face in terms that mattered to me from a leader who knew me and my colleagues, who respected what we did and who supported us, who did not fear the filthy masses, who had the courage to face us, to spend a day and a night at the coalface and see the challenges we face as a result of the litany of poor decisions. Yes there is the odd mug in any team who would attempt to make such a team leader feel uncomfortable, but the rest of the team would not tolerate it. That is the kind of leadership we crave. The kind of leadership we see everywhere but here.
(I still don't know what the last head of QE looks like. Apparently he wore glasses. The only reason I know what his successor looks like is because of the spam emails I receive fog-horning the latest company propaganda.)
In a perfect world, when the dust has settled after these various and parallel disputes, I'd like to see a round table where representatives from management and the front line leave baggage at the door, sit down and truthfully engage with one another. The executive don't have a monopoly on good ideas. If they started listening to the ideas that come from such round tables, we may save this airline together. But you the managers need to step up. We will follow.