It's all about the message!
You can't blame the Union reps, there's so much going on, so many side issues and so much confusion.
What you have to do, and I'm sure your Union leaders are looking at it, is to decide on ONE message ... and then try and sell it.
Qantas is doing it ... we have the right to run our business and we need to reduce costs to run it at a profit.. Much of the public agree with this, and the corporate world certainly does. In fact, logically, who wouldn't agree with it?
How do you counter that message?
First, get rid of all the peripheral messages ... like we deserve a wage increase because of how well we work, or how we do it better than anyone else. We all feel like that.
For me, this is the message ....
Yes, corporations, in principle, have the right to decide their own direction. However, there are certain corporations that have an additional national responsibility?
Qantas, because of how its present entity was formed, and because of the additional responsibilities attached to that creation, is such a corporation.
Although those responsibilities may be more onerous than those of other public companies, they were known or implied, and accepted, at the time of creation.
Those responsibilities mean that Qantas is, in fact, owned not only be the shareholders, but by every Australian.
Yes, the shareholders own the profits, however, every other Australian is entitled to the employment opportunities, the supply opportunities, the training opportunities and the prestige offered by the Qantas brand being wholly based within Australia.
Moving any of those opportunities offshore is stealing from Australian pockets.