Trafalgar,
I am so glad you raised this. I appreciate the GC has to be careful about getting into a public slanging match with management, so it is probably best if they leave the GMA hanging on his last words, because his words leave him dangling in the breeze.
Whilst the GC might not want to take on the GMA publicly, that need not stop us in ppruneland
, so here goes.
The HKAOA update is a document where the GC is addressing its fee-paying members.
It’s private. If the GMA was in a bar and overheard a conversation between two people, would he consider it appropriate to dive in and give his (skewed) opinions. Would he be offended, if upon interrupting a
private conversation he was invited to “F-Off”…. Well, guess what Dom??
Senior Management Remuneration
As Trafalgar say, what about the bonuses from Swire? We shall never know. No doubt the GMA will hide behind the fact they need not be declared, however if they had nothing to hide, the Swires would voluntarily declare the bonuses…. Well, guess what we all conclude Dom?
The very senior managers are appointed by, and work for, the shareholders. That’s pretty much Swires and Air China. The shareholders set director remuneration and unremarkably they sometimes take advice from external advisers. Apparently, those advisers said the directors' pay was equivalent to executives in
peer group companies. I wonder how many of those executives in the
peer group companies have plundered their company's share price such that it is nearly half its peak of 2 years ago, when the Hang Seng is up 3% over the same period? How many of those
peer group companies have been expelled from the prestigious Hang Seng Index? Well, guess what we all conclude Dom?
The Company’s financial position
The GC has financial advisors as well. They can see the fuel hedge unwinds in Q4 2018. On a daily basis we see the load factors. We can all see and read that freight is doing well. We can all see that the world economy is ticking along nicely and fuel prices and interest rates remain business friendly. Was it really irresponsible for the GC to look at the macro-picture and back TTW by saying profitability will return? Surely spreading doom and gloom would be irresponsible? Well, guess what your near hysterical response makes us conclude?
HKPA
GMA says, “..
we are not able to increase HKPA without finding productivity gains and cost savings else where”. The GMA speaks of a very juicy $5K per month, but has forgotten his boss (the DFO) has written to us all saying she wants a 10% saving. That means anyone earning more than $50k gets a pay cut. However, before the SOs go reaching for the Prosecco, I am sure they have figured out that what they gain over the next 5 years, they pay for many times over in the next 30 years. We are not stupid, but guess what we all conclude Dom?
Resignation Rates
The Company is always (rightly) keen to publicize promotions and new joiners, but many years ago they stopped publishing the names of those that have resigned. Why the silence? Well, guess what we all conclude?
Talks without pre-conditions – really?
Should the HKAOA engage again, clearly the talks will be about productivity gains and pay cuts. To offer talks without pre-conditions…. Guess what we all conclude Dom?