The QF Dixon File

[jetjockey7]

Let me preface this thread by saying that what is contained here are my observations.They are open to interpretation and are meant to initiate discussion.
What makes an airline CEO?What qualities must they have ?What qualities must they lack?
From my perspective CEOs like Dixon are largely dysfunctional individuals.They lack remorse,have no compassion and are largely indifferent and insensitive to the wants and needs of their employees.Indeed Dixon could be characterized as being a sociopath particularly when compared to Rod Eddington or Richard Branson.
Dixon likes to portray himself as good guy...a man of the people who knows whats best for them...a card carrying ALP member.This smacks of self delusion and dishonesty.From an employee perspective Dixon has done nothing but lie for the last three years...promising open communication to all QF employees and delivering nothing but deceipt.He is totally disinterested in morale and indeed he consistently threatens the resilience of his employees .Disagree or offer an alternative view to the World according to Dixon and you will be taken aside and given attitudinal and behavioural correction training.In short you are threatened and intimidated.Try voicing an alternative opinion in any company forum and see what happens.
Qantas has become more like a stalag than an airline and Dixon a commandant.
He has surrounded himself with like minded people...Peter Gregg..John Borghetti...Kevin Brown.Spend a few minutes in the company of these people and you will find that they were not employed for their charm,interpersonal skills or personality.They are essentially overpaid super clerks more at home in a government bureaucracy than an airline.
All ambitious individuals who see ruthlessness and indifference as desirable qualities.
Dixon and his crew are never alluded to as good corporate role models or leaders.Qantas is never seen as a happy or good place to work.Most employees stay because of the comraderie and the family atmosphere at the shop floor level.We are more like the children of abusive parents.
It is Dixon`s intention to smash all 14 of QF unions not thru`negotiation but rather through intimidation,deceipt and corporate thuggery.
So far he has gotten away with it.Shorthaul against longhaul, pilot against pilot,state against state.We are complicit by our indifference and lack of action.
But there is rumbling amongst employees who have had enough.The beginning of 2005 is crunch time...we either fight or accept subtugation and watch our wages and conditions evaporate.
This is my view of Stalag Qantas and Commandant Dixon and his coterie of SS thugs.If a police profiler met Dixon he would find that Dixon has more in common with a serial killer than an Airline CEO...he carelessly cuts you and laughs while you are bleeding

[str]

So true

So true JJ.

You should send that off to the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian etc. letters to the editor.

Even better do a Dixon and send it into the Financial review!

[TSSOV]

GD

IMHO, a CEO's 1st priority is to make money for his boss.... the shareholders. Do any other ppruners see it that way?
He has to find the right balance between making the company efficient and still have pax come back. Efficiencies are being implemented as we all know. As for pax coming back, all employees are being paid to do their jobs - provide a service. (no matter if they might not be crewing flights all the way to LHR in the future or not).
can i add... i also WOULD like to see the current conditions kept for future generations. take industrial action! i'll suport that.
personally... i dont feel the need to keep mentioning GD's bonus. he will get it if he does a good job (which is to make yummy profits for the shareholders). that is the way the system is setup. we would all like a CEO who everyone loves and aspires to be like, but geoff isnt a high school captain. he is a businessman. i think hes doing a good job. i hope all CC are too.

TSSOV
SMILE!

[argusmoon]

U Miss The Point

TSSOV
U miss the point.Qantas is supposedly a blue chip stock.If the market felt that Dixon was doing a good job the stock would be trading around $4.50 particularly in the current very buoyant market.Instead the stock is retreating and languishes around $3.28.The only people doing well are Dixon and the senior Qantas Mafia.They haven`t done anything clever or special....Air New Zealand just about imploded taking Ansett with it,Handing Dixon virtually the entire Australian/Trans Tasman Market .A Drover`s Dog could shine in those circumstances.
Dixon and his crew are not clever,just bloody lucky,and might I add BLOODY GREEDY!!!!Dixon is not Businessman`s Bootlace but a very fortunate self promoting Show Pony.

[Wonderworld]

The original poster does themselves and their cause a great dis-service in equating the Qantas management with Nazi Germany. Ask any holocaust survivor if they think your situation is in any way comparable.

[Wonderworld]

Chilling out has nothing to do with it. I dont care if Qantas crew go on strike or not. When I read things like that posted in the OP and replies like "chill out" indicating to me that you support the original highly offensive comments, maybe you all need to take a step back and get things in perspective. As I said in my first post, go and ask a holocaust survivor if they think the Qantas crew situation is comparable - I dare you.

[captainrats]

Metaphorically

Wonderland
I am sure JJ7 means no disrespect to any victims of the holocaust.
My Great Aunt was a holocaust survivor and I take no umbrige on her behalf.Believe me i am very sensitive to such comparisons.
I do agree however that Dixon is just dumb lucky.Where was he before he joined Qantas?A moderately successful middle manager in the twilight of his career.All of a sudden Strong departs and they need someone quickly,hey presto he is CEO.He has now been innoculated with the power needle and become a lucky mediocre manager surrounded by other mediocrity who happen to be in the rigth place at the right time.
Have a look at the Boeing Website and you will find research indicates that Asia and Oceania will be the fastest growing part of aviation travel over the over next decade.Right place right time. Just luck,not clever, not innovative.Any idiot can cut costs to the point of abstraction,but you need to be very bright to derive profit from a clever use of your revenue base....Richard Branson take a bow.Now there is a true astute businessman.Dixon is just an employee playing with someone else`s money.

[ginjockey]

From what I have seen of him and read about him I tend to agree that he comes across as a cold blooded snake who depises his employees. He sneers and is smug and arrogant on union issues. The problem that I have with qantas is that they have the words " Spirit of Australia" written down the side of their birds yet the attitude and general manner in which their business is being conducted is anything resembling the fair go and the easy going Australian way. They are just another big company who use the veil of "shareholders first" as an excuse for ruthless behaviour.
I also agree that they have been bloody lucky to have ansett collapse, escaped Sept 11 effects relatively lightly and to have had several other lucky breaks sent their way. Now they want to send jobs to India and Europe to fill the cash tim even more. Branson has had it a lot tougher and at least appears to try and get to know his staff, is informal and on the outside a likeable guy. That's what an aussie CEO should look like. Not a bloodless vampire sneering at the repoters when the FA's want a better deal. He can go and root his boot I reckon.

They ought to replace their airborne slogan with "just another greedy corporation"

That's my 2 cents anyway.

Gin.

[mach2male]

Dixon Biography?

Can anyone provide me with some background on Dixon ?...A resume if you will.
Career,birthplace, mates,education etc.Have done a search on the internet with little result.

[TSSOV]

captainrats: "Any idiot can cut costs to the point of abstraction..."



and what did Strong do when he arrived at coward street?

under which CEO did a QF 744 go for a lil round of golf one rainy night in Bangers?

[captainrats]

My Point Exactly

TSSOV
My point exactly,Strong was just another show pony with little business acumen,but a nice bow tie.Dont forget,Dixon was part of that crew .

[ozskipper]

jetjockey7 says....

They are essentially overpaid super clerks more at home in a government bureaucracy than an airline.

Actually, Dixon and his cronies wouldn't last in Government behaving they way that they do. It simply would not be tolerated either by bureaucracy or the union. Consultation is a requirement and changes to work practices must involve the unions.

Unfortunately for aviation industry, the unions are too divided and the membership self interested. What we need to do is unite together rather than make a grab for whatever we can. Simply, Dixon has spotted that this is the weak spot of the employee's and has exploited it.

While ever we fight amongst ourselves we'll always be on the back foot and sadly I suspect it isn't going to change soon.

[ginjockey]

No idea where to find his business or professional background but it would probably read something like -

"Hatched from egg in reptilian nest on banks of tidal river, ate siblings, later ate parents, became CEO of Qantas......the rest we know........."

OK. I know that's just juvenile and childish and has no sensible input into this thread but isn't it in "The Spirit of Australia(ns)" to have a good dig at those who take themselves too seriously and bash the aussie battler?

Both of which he does all too well.

I'll stay out of it now.

regards
Gin.

[TSSOV]

i DO think GD does have some vision and direction though. for example... expansion is on the horizon. but this is limited by the availability of aircraft (new and used). both boeing and airbus cant come up with any a/c soon enough. this is why the thrice weekly (and profitable) CDG service will be dropped this/next bid period, to be replaced by the Hongkers- LHR. the LHR slots are on a 'use-or-lose' contract.

another example is jetsar asia. not sure if any of you know how close this baby is from popping out... but its closer than you think!

i would like to see QF add more destinations. the number of international desinations that the red rat flies to in its own right is a fraction of airlines like SQ and UA. (but then again.. a lil bit of help from your govt helps)

maybe when QF gets their A380's...

i read in the paper someone had the idea of QF and SQ working together to become what i would like to call a "superasiapacificairlinepartnership!!!!" (and yes... all four exclamation marks are required )

[argusmoon]

Rod Eddington`s Nose

Interesting to note that one of the reasons cited for BA`s sell down of Qantas stock was the "increasing tension between Rod Eddington and Geoff Dixon"
Dixon appears to be making a career of p#ssing people off at all levels.Short mans syndrome,an abused child?What went wrong with this man ?Or is it he is just wired up the wrong way?
Where does this obsessive nastiness come from?
Talk to longhaul pilots about what he is doing to them.They are ready to explode.
Maybe the AIPA and the FAAA should form a united front??

[Ascent]

More staff troubles for Qantas


Pemberton Strong
Aviation correspondent

07 September 2004
Qantas shareholders meet in Brisbane late next month and will no doubt hear the usual litany of gloom, doom and we'll be 'rooned' from chairman 'Dame' Margaret Jackson and CEO Geoff Dixon.

They may also hear a few more word about the 35,000 staff, but will they hear any frank discussion of the result: that the airline did well, really well, and will do more in the coming year, all things being equal?

Don't hold your breath. The airline is going into defensive mode, according to a Qantas insider. "With the proposed London base (49 have signed up for 480 slots) and the expected industrial troubles with the international cabin crew at Christmas, the "black widow" (otherwise known as Lesley Grant GM customer service) has moved domestic crew to all regional flying on Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 767 (Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo) from October onwards. At the same time she offers leave without pay to international crew. In addition she has trained 700 strike breakers on fixed term contracts (in addition to office staff) for 10 month.

Would not suggest to anyone to book/fly Qantas international around Christmas. It is going to get ugly one way or another. A point confirmed in today's Sydney Morning Herald .

Also John Borghetti and the black widow put out a staff survey trying to figure out what Qantas staff thinks of their management and working conditions. Only 20% replied which is a great slap in the face of John and Lesley.



At any other company the alarm bells would go off but in true fashion more negative feedback from staff gets ignored and covered up. In trying to keep word to cut another $500 million this year from the bottom line Geoff's all new galaxy domestic service is in place. Read the announcement here.

And what a fiasco it is. If you watch the poor flight attendants standing in the aisles and assembling a meal in business class (don’t sit at the rear of business class as you only have two minutes to eat the meal before the city flyer goes on descent), and running in tandem in economy.

This little pumpkin flew 3 times last week in coach at the rear and did not get whatever it was meant to be (a tray but no drink as they run out of time).

However I was told by flight attendants of the new service and its pitfalls, but the savings to Geoff is $6 million a year. Does not matter what the outcome is for customers.

Geoff told his staff that due to changes to international accounting standards he cannot issue shares to staff but a bonus instead. Funny enough he got both (and plenty of it).


And I do agree the arrogance in which Qantas management treats its customers, and staff will backfire sooner then later.

Meanwhile, Great words about the flying rat, the new nickname by its employees, in reference to Geoff, Margaret and the ever increasing management layers in Qantas and there ever increasing lies and sad tail stories!

At the annual results, there where actually two presentations. One for the public and as you have correctly pointed out the usual sad Qantas story. In a private meeting for fund managers afterwards Margaret assured the brokers this coming year is going to be as good if not more profitable then the current figures.

Jetstar was an existing airline all they had to do is paint the planes and setup a new booking and marketing system. No, but since the flying rat is run by marketing they had to spend $18 million on ads,etc. Very little on the operational side.



My belief is they have set aside $100 million to subsidize (by using Qantas resources like legal, operational, human resources etc.) it to go every where Virgin is going (manipulate the figures so it looks like they are always making profits). The idea is to squeeze Virgin and by next year Jetstar will fly the same routes as Virgin to keep the Chris Corrigan controlled airline under control.

The ongoing myth of Qantas staff being expensive. Compared to ALL major competitors (Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, United) Qantas staff are inexpensive. Pilots, cabin crew and ground staff are cheaper then any of the above airlines. If you look at the annual report the flying rat Qantas, not its other subsidiaries, have increased management by 20%.Cabin crew had a redundancy where 10% left and had until now not been replaced. Funny the airline has not really expended since 9/11. If anything they have pulled out from Rome and soon Paris. As Geoff and his mates put all there eggs in two major baskets London and Los Angeles one can only hope nothing goes wrong there.

Crikey: Plenty there for any shareholder going to the AGM in Brisbane on October 21.

____________
Dunno if this has been posted or not, but i thought it was an interesting read.

[DOME]

Don't know much of GD's recent past - but he WAS a middle ranking public servant years ago. Posted to LA Consulate as the media/PR/spin merchant I believe. By all accounts his personality hasn't changed much since then.

[argusmoon]

Shareholder Vote

The Qantas AGM is coming up.Don`t waste this opportunity to have your say and vote NO!!! to Ratty`s pay increase