TWU boss Tony Sheldon calls for heads to roll at Qantas
by: JOE KELLY
From:The Australian
June 10, 201211:37AM
TRANSPORT Workers' Union boss Tony Sheldon has launched a stunning attack on Qantas, accusing its executives of lining their pockets at the expense of shareholders and calling on its leadership to quit.
Mr Sheldon also attacked the government for being too lax on Qantas, saying the carrier was able to use cheap flight attendants from Thailand at a rate of only $400 a month.
The attack comes as the airline's share price plumbed new lows, falling below $1 on Friday, and the shock announcement that pre-tax profits would be down 91 per cent from $552 million last year to between $50 million and $100m.
Mr Sheldon said that Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce and chairman Leigh Clifford "both have to go", claiming that 82.5 per cent of its employees believed they were taking the airline in the wrong direction.
He said the airline had "lost its way forward" and was damaging its brand for ideological reasons, referring to last year's decision by Qantas to ground its fleet in order to bring the rolling industrial action against it to a head.
Mr Sheldon said the government had to take action to ensure that Qantas could not take advantage of cheap foreign labour, warning it was against the national interest.
"This is a critical issue. Chris Bowen has to step in and turn around and enforce the Immigration Act," he said.
He said Fair Work Australia was prosecuting 8 separate cases of underpayments by Qantas, but that the Immigration Department needed to take action to defend the tourism industry.
"Defending the tourism industry, isn't just the operators like Qantas," he said. "It is the people who work in it. This country is built on a whole series of economic parameters and one of them is to give decent paying Australian jobs."
The Australian
He is probably correct. Clifford, Joyce and the present Board have proven beyond any reasonable doubt they are incapable of profitably operating the company or reversing current financial trends.
Qantas will not be nationalised and it would be political suicide for any Government to bail out or intervene in Qantas.
Any other public listed company that achieved a five fold reduction in share value and no dividend for three years and heads would have rolled long ago. I don't understand how QF Directors and executive not only survive, but are rewarded with pay increases and bonuses.
Change is now solely up to the share holders and specifically the largest institutional share holders who you may recall, blindly supported Joyce and his pay increase at the last AGM.