The confrontation came at Qantas's annual general meeting in Sydney, held under tight security as a months-long stand-off between the airline and its staff over its restructuring plans spilled over into angry recrimination.

The meeting was held as Qantas said industrial unrest had so far cost it more than the havoc caused by volcanic ash clouds, and it was now losing $15 million a week in revenue.

Qantas shareholders also voted overwhelmingly in favour of Qantas' executive remuneration, with just four per cent of votes going against the package.

The report included a 71 per cent increase in the value of chief executive Alan Joyce's remuneration package, from $2.9 million in 2009/10 to $5 million in 2010/11. But Qantas said that a complicated accounting process meant he actually received $3.8m

 

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/qantas-says-sorry-for-strke-disruption-warns-unions-are-endangering-jobs/story-e6frg95x-1226179245992

This is the way it is sold by media though: Labour row grounds Qantas flights

The Australian airline Qantas is to ground all international and domestic flights with immediate effect due to an industrial dispute.

A statement said all employees involved in industrial action would be locked out from Monday evening and flights grounded from 0600 GMT on Saturday.

Aircraft currently in the air will complete their flights, but there will be no further departures.

Chief executive Alan Joyce called his decision "unbelievable".

The airline has been hit by a series of costly strikes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15504838

Pilots have accused Qantas of "holding a knife to Australia's throat" with its decision to ground all its planes over a long-running industrial dispute.

Qantas today grounded both its domestic and international fleets indefinitely and announced a lockout of engineers, pilots and other employees beginning on Monday night.

The move comes as a result of a long-running industrial impasse between Qantas and three unions: the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA), the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA).

Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) vice-president Richard Woodward says Qantas' decision was "pre-meditated, unnecessary and grossly irresponsible".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-29/pilots-say-qantas-holding-country-to-ransom/3608306

Qantas' decision to ground the entire Qantas fleet is "holding a knife to the nation's throat" and CEO Alan Joyce has "gone mad", the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) says.

AIPA vice president Richard Woodward said the move was "premeditated, unnecessary and grossly irresponsible".

"Alan Joyce is holding a knife to the nation's throat," Captain Woodward said.

"No-one predicted this, because no one thought Alan Joyce was completely mad.

"This is a stunning overreaction. It is straight-up blackmail.

"I knew he was trying to kill Qantas, but I didn't know he wanted to do it this quickly.

"This is a grave and serious situation and the board should move to sack Mr Joyce immediately. This is the saddest day of my 25 years with Qantas."

He said AIPA's industrial action has been limited to making brief, positive in-flight announcements and wearing red ties.

"In response to this, Mr Joyce has now locked out every pilot working for Qantas. This is nothing short of crazy behaviour," he said.

"Mr Joyce is stranding thousands of Qantas passengers all across the globe so he can engage in his mad game of one-upmanship. All so he can pursue his delusion that Qantas should be an Asian airline, instead of an Australian one.

"We believe this action is unlawful and we are currently seeking legal advice.

" He has locked out short-haul 737 pilots who aren't even involved in any action at all.

Mr Woodward said this action would have been planned months in advance.

"Let's be clear about this: Mr Joyce would have planned to strand thousands of Qantas passengers all across the globe months ago," he said.

"To ground your entire fleet, when doing so is completely unnecessary, is not the act of a sane and reasonable person.

"He has snatched his ill-deserved millions on Friday and grounded the airline on Saturday. It's just tragic and unnecessary."

Qantas CEO has 'gone mad' say pilots

The Qantas political brawl has escalated dramatically with an extraordinary suggestion that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had prior knowledge that Qantas was to ground its aircraft.

Mr Abbott was forced to deny the claim in Parliament, saying he heard about the grounding only a few minutes before it came into force on Saturday.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese called a press conference to question why Mr Abbott suddenly changed his rhetoric on Friday to demand the Government intervene in the dispute.

Mr Albanese questioned whether Mr Abbott had been told about the lockout and grounding well before Qantas boss Alan Joyce told the Government at 2pm on Saturday.

Mr Joyce insisted the Qantas board only made the lockout decision on Saturday morning.

"Why did Tony Abbott change his position on Friday morning one day before Qantas says they made the decision to lock out the workforce and to shut down the airline at 5pm on Saturday?" Mr Albanese asked journalists.

And he made the extraordinary suggestion that the Opposition may have colluded with Qantas to "orchestrate" the lockout and grounding.

"Was Mr Abbott, his office or any colleagues in his party involved in an orchestrated campaign in the lead-up to this announcement with Qantas' decision they say was made on Saturday to lock out its workforce and to ground its fleet?" he asked.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-01/abbott-denies-prior-qantas-grounding-knowledge/3613094?WT.svl=news2

 

Of course, Tonicchio also claims "he would not have booked tickets for his family if he knew of the lock out in advance"... but me-thinks that this is exactly what one should do to deflect the prior knowledge of the lockout... Knowing he would be fully reimbursed, there was no risk to "buy" tickets (apart for the delay which would make very little difference to his family on a sunday)... Talk about a flimsy alibi, this one is super flimsy... Meanwhile Joe Hockey on the 7:30 report tonight was beyond his depth, sinking in the Libs (conservatives)'s grand lie more and more, like one is swallowed by a tar pit.

The Federal Government has seized on comments by shadow treasurer Joe Hockey that he was told by Qantas well before Saturday that it was planning to ground its aircraft.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese is suggesting Qantas and the Opposition colluded during the industrial dispute and the Opposition knew well in advance the aircraft would be grounded.

On ABC TV's 7.30 last night, Mr Hockey told Leigh Sales he heard the aircraft would be grounded "weeks ago".

"They've [Qantas] been saying it. Weeks ago. Publicly and privately, they have been saying for weeks," Mr Hockey said.

Asked if he had heard it "personally in a meeting with a Qantas representative at some time in the past few weeks?" Mr Hockey replied, "Yeah, sure".

Yesterday Opposition Leader Tony Abbott avoided questions about when he first knew about the Qantas grounding and today Mr Albanese ramped up the pressure in the wake of Mr Hockey's comments.

"It's pretty clear from the shadow treasurer's comments last night on the 7.30 Report that some people were aware that this was going to occur," Mr Albanese told reporters.

Mr Albanese cited a report given to Qantas on October 20, more than a week before the lockout, on the safety implications of a lockout of its workforce - suggesting Qantas was planning a grounding well in advance.

Qantas chief Alan Joyce has maintained the decision was only made on Saturday morning at a Qantas board meeting.

Mr Albanese said Mr Hockey's comments last night "showed what the real game was" and accused the Opposition about being "tricky" about the language they have used.

"I think it was an extraordinary, explosive interview by Mr Hockey on the 7.30 Report last night given the fact the Government had raised issues about when the leader of the Opposition was told about the proposed lockout and shutdown of Qantas," he said.

Mr Hockey moved to clarify what he had said, telling ABC News Breakfast this morning the Opposition had not heard about the lockout of workers until "4:45[pm] on Saturday".

"Qantas had not suggested there was going to be a lockout at any previous time to that," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-02/albanese-renews-attack-over-qantas/3614710

 

 

Joe Hockey, Tony Abbott and Alan Joyce should all resign...

Qantas's chief executive, Alan Joyce, might have had the toughest week of his life but the man who lost out to him for the top job at the Flying Kangaroo is now basking in the glow.

Virgin Australia's boss, John Borghetti, said today that the grounding of Qantas's fleet for two days showed the need for a "strong second carrier".

Qantas grounded its fleet on Saturday afternoon, stranding tens of thousands of passengers worldwide.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/virgin-basks-in-the-glow-as-brand-qantas-crashes-and-burns-20111102-1mv8n.html#ixzz1cWyWF11I


Why did the Qantas board reject the bear that catches salmon in favour of the goose that cooks the goose?... The directors of Qantas board should either resign or review their choices... I know things are never as simple as this but boy did they goof...
see toon at top....

The more I listen to Alan Joyce, the more I'm sure I could do a better job at Qantas for half the money. It'd be better that what I'm negatively making now... . It's a question of being a good negociator of outcomes in which all parties can be happy and play a part in the "family". Joyce reasoning is that he wants to achieve sumpthin' and the unions are in the way. Full stop... Pitifully bombastic. Sure, one has to be weary of being taken for a ride, but earnestness is usually on all sides of the ledger even in time of conflict. Joyce has not showed one whiff of willingness to negociate or even listen....

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-04/joyce-denies-deceiving-government-over-lockout/3627012?WT.svl=news1

...

After 83 minutes of inquisition it blew up in the government's face. The opposition industrial relations spokesman, Senator Eric Abetz, asked Joyce what would have happened if the government had invoked section 431 of the Fair Work Act, which entitles the Minister for Transport to stop industrial action if it is damaging the economy.

Would that have pre-empted his spectacular action of grounding the entire Qantas fleet last weekend?

''Absolutely,'' Joyce replied. ''Section 431 is very clear. It would have stopped me taking the industrial action I was taking. And would have stopped the lockout.''

The great failure in this long-running, slow-burning, highly disruptive industrial dispute was the government's willingness to ignore the multiple pleas from the tourism industry to put an end to the months of industrial guerilla tactics being used by unions representing Qantas engineers, long-haul pilots, baggage handlers and caterers.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/inquisitors-cheap-shots-over-qantas-backfire-20111106-1n1vi.html#ixzz1czw1nmNI
First thing first. Senator Abetz should have resigned over the Grech affair. So should have Malcolm Turnbull but he is more debonair that the acidic Abetz... Second, Alan Joyce's people skills are atrocious. This is the 21st century not WWII... His views are uncompromising and not even tested at that level... Antagonising the dedicated staff is not the way to go. Look at Virgin...  And third, what about taking a 2 million dollar pay rise just before shutting the shop down. That's outrageous. it's like placing one's hand in the till before insulting the customers, telling them to get out of the grocery shop. Fourth, what about giving 20 million dollars of "free" tickets, what about the damage to the Qantas brand, what about the loss of expertise... etc... It did not blow in the government's face. It only proved that Alan Joyce is a little Hitler who should resign. Qantas needs someone with a bit more weight, vision and plenty more people skills.  The board should go to... But who am I to comment.

Qantas solution is all about business basics

Paul Sheehan mounts his attack on Labor senators Gallacher, Cameron and co. on the basis that they have never run a substantial business (''Inquisitors cheap shots over Qantas backfire'', November 7).

Will Mr Sheehan detail his business experience along with his political experience so that we can judge his suitability to comment on the Qantas issue and criticise the members of the committee?

I am convinced that substantial changes need to be made at Qantas so this is a good time for Mr Joyce to take on board the lessons learned by many organisation over the years and taught in all of the best business management schools.

They are: if you need to initiate change, engage your staff and give them a stake in the change process. Then make the change a process and not an event. Take your people with you and don't try to drag them along or walk through them. This is not new. It's all been done before.

Bob Passier Balmain

--------------

Paul Sheehan attempts to recast Alan Joyce as the entrapped victim, pursued by a Labor and Green gang of hitmen at the Senate hearings last Friday.

Sheehan is silent on the point that Joyce or Qantas, under the Fair Work Act, was entitled to notify Fair Work Australia that Qantas was in dispute with various unions and request a determination by that body therefore negating the need to tear apart the travel plans of Qantas passengers.

I believe many Australians will take stock of the changed air travel environment and look at alternative solutions; even if that requires them to explore Virgin territory.

Mike Clifford Blaxland

-----------

Paul Sheehan cries that Fair Work Australia is ''stacked with Labor appointments''.

There are a total of 41 judges and commissioners; if 11 have been appointed by Labor, as suggested by Sheehan, and this is ''stacking'', then somebody is not dealing from a full deck.

As to his assertion that Fair Work Australia is ''the bureaucratic wing of the Labor Party'', the tribunal is headed by Justice Geoffrey Giudice along with deputy president Graeme Watson both of whom were appointed by John Howard's Liberal Government to the old Australian Industrial Relations Commission, and subsequently became officers of Fair Work Australia.

Jim Iveson Hornsby Heights

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/recycled-options-wont-get-trains-back-on-track-20111107-1n3qf.html#ixzz1d4Iwdeuu
see comment above this one... and toon at top

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has declined the invitation to face a further grilling at tomorrow's senate inquiry, despite earlier assurances under oath that he was "happy to defend [the decision to ground the airline] and talk about it in any forum, anywhere, because it was the right call".

It is understood Mr Joyce has informed the inquiry into the Qantas Sale Act that he will not be available for further questioning now until at least February next year.

A Qantas spokesman said Mr Joyce was overseas on business but was working with the committee on dates which he could re-appear.

"Mr Joyce appeared before the Senate committee to give evidence about proposed amendments to legislation three weeks ago. He answered Senators' questions for three hours – double the time he was originally scheduled to appear," the spokesman said.

At Mr Joyce's previous appearance at the inquiry on November 4,  he was subject to intense and occasionally aggressive questioning from the left-wing Labor senator Doug Cameron.

Senator Cameron said today he was extremely disappointed Mr Joyce would not be attending.

"I thought Mr Joyce made a clear commitment to the senate to make an appearance, and [his actions] seem to be inconsistent with that," Senator Cameron said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/fly-by-joyce--misses-second-inquiry-grilling-20111123-1numa.html#ixzz1eWQdQEqv

 

Qantas has been urged to resolve a dispute with an employee, over the publication of her memoir, out of court.

Qantas is seeking to block the publication of the memoir by speechwriter Lucinda Holdforth in the NSW Supreme Court, arguing she is exploiting the airline's confidential company information for personal gain.

The Sydney author has been employed by Qantas for a number of years as a speechwriter.

She wrote CEO Alan Joyce's speech when he made the radical decision to ground the airline's entire fleet during an industrial dispute in 2011, and has also penned speeches for former chief executive Geoff Dixon and chairwoman Margaret Jackson.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-24/qantas-moves-to-block-lucinda-holdforth-memoirs-over-secrets/6569642

 

Read from top...

 

There was something missing from the Qantas investor presentation this week – the Flying Kangaroo has become Australia’s most cancelled airline.

Qantas reported a lower profit thanks to higher fuel costs and foreign exchange movements.

Nonetheless, Qantas’ domestic business, the company’s biggest earner, had a strong year with its operating margin dipping only a little from 12.9 to 12.1 per cent. That compares with 6.7 per cent for Virgin Australia domestic.

Helping preserve the Qantas margin in the increasing tendency of the airline to cancel flights on its main Sydney-Melbourne trunk route and shuffle passengers to fill up the planes that do take off.

That reached a new high last month – alas, too late to feature in the year-to-June-30 figures. In July, 3.9 per cent of all Qantas domestic flights were cancelled, tying with Tigerair to be Australia’s most cancelled airline. Over the past three months, Qantas has been worse than Tigerair.

The Qantas performance compares with 3.1 per cent for Jetstar and was more than double Virgin’s 1.4 per cent. In bare numbers, Qantas cancelled 380 of its 9647 scheduled flights, while Virgin cancelled 172 of its 11,931 scheduled take-offs.

The overall Qantas performance was distorted by a horror month for it on the Sydney-Melbourne route. Weather made that route difficult for all airlines, but the Qantas underperformance is extraordinary.

 

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/travel/2019/08/23/qantas-flight-cancellation-numbers/

 

Airlines and airports have blamed each other for steep increases in ticket prices over recent years.

Key points:

• Airline bosses will meet with the Treasurer to try and prevent airports from charging excessive landing fees
• Virgin boss Paul Scurrah said the landing fees make it "almost impossible" to discount fares
• But Melbourne Airport chief executive Lyell Strambi said the airlines will pocket any cost savings as profit

 

But neither has promised to lower prices despite airlines calling on the Federal Government to intervene on their side of the dispute.

The two big airline bosses will visit Canberra on Wednesday to urge Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to regulate airports to stop them charging excessive landing fees.

"It's a unicorn," Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce told AM. 

"There shouldn't be an unregulated revenue stream in a monopoly environment. 

"There is in this case and that's bad for consumers."

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-18/qantas-virgin-ceo-airports-monopo...

 

Read from top.

 

The case is clear. The monopoly of the Australian airports has become a problem. We all (we all should) know (and avoid) the exorbitant parking fees at Sydney airport by parking in a street away from it, awaiting a call from our friendly passengers. But the airport authorities have redesigned the whole thing like a maze. Once entering the perimeter, you're likely to get lost, miss your friends and be shooed away by the yellow vested secret services of the airport, should you try to stop for two seconds. You shall be coralled into the parking lots.

For the airlines, the fees to land and park a plane are beyond the pale, except for the airport shareholders. To say it's a racket is understating the process. As Alan Joyce reminded us at the Press Club, the Kenyan pirates are more honest and cheaper than the Aussie Airports privately operated operations. So what to do?

This is akin to the NSW third party insurance a few years back. The privateers complained that the government had a monopoly and they could do cheaper deals. At the time, the cost of insurance was less than $29. Within two years, the insurers, now private, bumped the cost to $149 and after five years we had to pay more than $499 for the pleasure of being extortioned. The NSW government has intervened and now 20 years later, there is a "rebate" at taxpayers expense of about $100 until when... Yesterday?. 

This is to show that private enterprise isn't always about service, but about ripping you off gently. So what to do? Well it's a bit like the milkmaid complaining about the spilt milk. The airlines should actually have bought shares to the max in the airports which are servicing their services, when the government decided to cash in on selling its airports (which was a bad idea) — or they should have argued against the sale. Did they? I don't remember... So how to fix this problem of extortion? Built other airports is a way around it, but how many airports can we have in the Sydney Basin? The air controllers would have a fit. 

May be the extortion mentality of the airports is doing us a favour by limiting the number of flights due to high costs — reducing emissions of CO2. But these morons always push for deregulation of flying hours and removal of curfews... Thus they're not global warmish theoreticians... Bugger off!

It's obvious that the government will have to step in and enforce a price reduction of landing fees. But how low? And who will pocket the difference? 

We shall wait. 

 

The federal government may be forced to front an inquiry over its rejection of additional Qatar Airways flights after the opposition accused it of running a “protection racket” for Qantas.

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has called for an inquiry into the government’s decision to block an additional 21 Qatar Airways flights, which had potential to reduce airfares and boost the Australian tourism industry.

“It’s very easy to assume that this government is continuing to run a protection racket for the most complained about company in our country,” Senator McKenzie told reporters on Monday.

 

“There are a number of serious questions that need to be asked.”

Senator McKenzie has formally sought the public release of documents relating to the decision by Transport Minister Catherine King.

“A section of the Labor Party knows it’s not doing them any good to have such a cosy, close relationship with Qantas,” Senator McKenzie said.

The move to block the flights has come under scrutiny after it was revealed Qantas lobbied the government to do so, before posting a record $2.5 billion profit over the 2022/23 financial year.

Qatar Airways runs 28 flights a week to major airports around the country and had hoped to expand its services before the government blocked the proposal.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said there was a “murkiness” around the rejection.

“They’ve given seven different reasons in seven different days to stop Qatar flying those new routes,” he told Nine’s Today show.

“(The prime minister) has got to start listening to Australians. If you want to go and visit family overseas or want to go on a holiday, you don’t want to be paying thousands of dollars more for airfares.”

 

Queensland’s Labor government, represented by acting premier Steven Miles, has also spoken out against its federal counterpart.

“We would want to see as many flights into Queensland as possible,” he said on Monday.

“Let’s hope that common sense prevails and this decision is actually reversed.”

Rex Airlines deputy chair and former federal transport minister John Sharp said overturning the flight decision would be an appropriate course of action.

“Qantas plays the game very ruthlessly, they play it to win,” he told ABC radio.

At the end of a horror week for Qantas marked by a senate grilling on delays and cancelled flights, it was revealed CEO Alan Joyce had received more than $10 million worth of shares.

Mr Sharp said he thought consumers’ opinions of the airline should have been a factor in deciding whether to award bonuses to executives.

“The board has to make its own mind up on these things but certainly it would be difficult to, in my view, justify paying huge bonuses when at the same time the reputation of the company has been so badly damaged,” he said.

– AAP

 

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/2023/09/04/calls-probe-qantas-protection-racket/

 

 

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