Qantas - Chickens coming home?

[Flyingblind]

Qantas fined $20m for price fixing - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/28/2403687.htm)

Is there any good news out there for Qantas? (apart from you-know-who's departure)

[OhSpareMe]

20 Million? That is 'Chicken Feed' to a company like QANTAS.

[rodchucker]

OH Spare Me,

Agree but since when was p...ing shareholders money against a wall for illegal acts acceptable.

It is even worse when it is put in context of treatment of staff generally eg sacking a guy for stealing a chocolate wasnt it?

About time there was some equality in the higher echelons.

[grip-pipe]

In case I forget what exactly was it the former CEO of Qantas did for all the boys and girls?

Ah yes:-

Had QF fined for price fixing in the international air cargo market,
Nearly managed to sell the company to a bunch of financial pirates,
Saw the shareholders investment value drop by at least 30%,
Destroyed the morale of aircrew and ground staff,
Finally pissed off CASA enough to get them to do some real audits,
Given a lot their former customers a real good reason to not fly QF,

Yep, deftly turned it into just another crappy international carrier, the financial papers don't call it the Mangy Roo for nothing.

[satos]

OhSpareMe 20 Million? That is 'Chicken Feed' to a company like QANTAS.
I'd just hate to imagine the profit margin they made during this period,I'd imagine it would be many times the $20 million.

[rodchucker]

Yep profits flowed just like at Visy when post ACCC the class actions started.Now those profits will go to the lawyers to defend the indefensible.

That logic is why Wall St is now where it is, profits at any cost.

There WAS once a time companies cared about their reputations, and no doubt QF spend many many millions in PR and media to create what they want. Now all those dollars are at risk because of some dumbass tactics for short term profits.

Great job boys.

ps leave the $$$ at the door as you leave.

[teresa green]

As a seventy year old just about past his use by date, you cannot imagine what it feels to see such a fine company, served over the years by the best of the best in pilots and engineers, by the hard working cabin crew and ground staff who gave their utmost, the great managers such as Capt. Bert Richie, Menadue, Yates, to see what is happening now. Anyone of you who has read the story of QF cannot be but disgusted that the history of this great company, be denigrated in such a way. I guess somebody of my age has seen so much over the years, I saw the mighty flying boats leaving RoseBay, I remember the stories of the Qantas Pilots who flung themselves into the water at Broome firstly to save their aircraft, but only to turn around and save drowning women and children as the japanese straffed their aircraft, the history of this airline in our young country is amazing, and to have some fu$kwit and his mates treat like a gravy train, and to dismiss its history and its place in Australian history is sickening.

[rodchucker]

Teresa,

I am non airline and merely slf who is sick and tired of these events and how the system seems to forget that corporate culture is made up of a collective of individual behaviours.I have sat back in my comfortable chair and watched seriously committed staff become increasingly disenfranchised by the system that is supposed to support them.

It is the likes of you that serve as a reminder of what great companies are made of, and the others show us how fragile the system really is against the likes of what we have seen REPEATEDLY with this once great company.

The best way for us to support this cause is to say enough is enough, we will not lay down and we do not accept what you are doing and have done, so please piss off back to where you once came.

Teresa, dont go anywhere and keep reminding us of you and your friends contribution to society.Self interest should never prevail over the wisdom that you represent.

[b55]

GD has apologised "UNRESERVEDLY".
$20,000,000 fine.
Balanced?!
Just go GD. Don't wait.

[priapism]

They should take it out of Dixon's retirement package.

[QFinsider]

Any student of the corporation would be scratching their head.

There used to be this novel concept, called the Fiduciary duty of directors.
In this context it simply means ;

"A person legally appointed and authorized to hold assets in trust for another person. The fiduciary manages the assets for the benefit of the other person rather than for his or her own profit".

[Hardworker]

Had QF fined for price fixing in the international air cargo market,
Nearly managed to sell the company to a bunch of financial pirates,
Saw the shareholders investment value drop by at least 30%,
Destroyed the morale of aircrew and ground staff,
Finally pissed off CASA enough to get them to do some real audits,
Given a lot their former customers a real good reason to not fly QF,

Yep, deftly turned it into just another crappy international carrier, the financial papers don't call it the Mangy Roo for nothing. - quote

Cant agree more...plus put people in managerial positions that have no idea on how to operate or have any qualifications in management skills...

Its time the corporate greed was held accountable, which means a complete sacking of the board and a complete revision of directors wages policy, enough is enough!

[lowerlobe]

accountable |əˈkountəbəl|
adjective
1 (of a person, organization, or institution) required or expected to justify actions or decisions; responsible :
Well that's the definition at any rate.....so exactly where does the buck stop?

[blow.n.gasket]

The bit a liked the most in the Australian was old Scrotum face apologising unreservedly to the Airlines customers for "The conduct of the employees concerned"

So much for management oversight!

But then again Geoff keeps telling all and sundry how you must pay top dollar to attract the talent, his.
How about a bit more of "with the pay packet goes the responsibility" Geoff?

As for the $20 million fine being chicken feed and no doubt a lot less than what was made through this cartel as SATOS and Oh Spare me, point out , I think only paints the management concerned as the go get 'em corporate cowboys they really are/were.

Will SATOS and Oh Spare Me, think this was such a novel business decision if the threatened Class action to recover all costs to the costomers concerned goes ahead?
We're talking about real chicken feed then!

FOG

[No Idea Either]

Not only that gasket....

The Federal Court still has to approve the fine. The $20mill is just an arrangement between ACCC and Q. The Fed will look at the total amount ripped off by Q during this (no doubt hundreds of millions) and may adjust the fine accordingly. We'll see.

[teresa green]

Thanks Rodchucker. Any of you who served in the armed forces know that the Commander of the base, (if he is any good) always makes sure he has a drink with the WO's at least once a week, the reason being the WO knows in both the enlisted ranks and the Officers mess, "whose up who and who hasnt paid". Any Commander worth his salt has to know what is happening on the base. So Dixon states he knew nothing about the cartels, that makes it even worse, he should have made it his business to find out (like the commander) what is happening on his watch. A armed forces Commander would probably get a demotion if a oversight like this occured on his watch. This bloke go from bad to worse, and he should leave quietly now.

[Datum]

How very true Teresa!..:ok:

However, what is becoming more obvious every day at the moment is that many of the most highly paid CEOs in the world (read Wall St and Financial sector company CEOs) don't seem to be 'accountable' for much at all..

Accountability seems to be inversely proportional to salary and bonus paid!..:uhoh:.. especially in the case of Qantas..