AFR's Joe Aston goes BAM!

[anat0l]

This is a ‘token’ protest. How many pilots have resigned?

True. Wonder why it isn't a good number because they do have a lot of power to find a good position around the world.

Then again, that just goes to the whole "if you don't like your job, go find another one" vibe which some people don't like. Or rather, why should you be forced to leave your job when you're not the *******?

Interestingly, the net resignation of pilots might be negative, if Rex's complaint of their pilots being poached is to be believed.

 

[RooFlyer]

Remember the reason that Joyce gave for instantly grounding the fleet in 2011 was that he was worried that the pilots couldn’t fly properly if they were in the middle of a dispute. What are the chances that Vanessa Hudson is going to ground the fleet now?

 

[DC3]

Just to clarify, I’m not down-playing the no-confidence position, and the pilots are quite entitled to state their position.

 

[CaptJCool]

Uncle Rich
can I offer you some Frank Advice

Nothing but the Best

 

[NM]

... ( did I miss anyone?) ...

journalists

 

[kookaburra75]

I think it's also a matter if the individuals chose to be on the Board?

It's now up to Goyder to listen to shareholders, shareholder representative bodies, customers, pilots, staff ( did I miss anyone?) and take some responsibility and clear himself out. That he won't I guess speaks volumes as to how the airline got itself into the current mess.

And now the pilots have raised another point regarding the Chairman's pay, it will be an interesting AGM.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/qantas-pilots-have-lost-confidence-in-richard-goyder-as-pressure-mounts-for-him-to-step-down/news-story/5208bdb1fc6e5b90f437d4e56eda97a0

“Despite overseeing the destruction of the Qantas brand, Goyder last week accepted a near $100,000 pay rise – taking his pay to $750,000 – while staff are expected to accept a two-year wage freeze,” Mr Lucas continued.

Given the number of board positions he has, he doesn't need the money - surely.

 

[tdimdad]

And now the pilots have raised another point regarding the Chairman's pay, it will be an interesting AGM.
“Despite overseeing the destruction of the Qantas brand, Goyder last week accepted a near $100,000 pay rise – taking his pay to $750,000 – while staff are expected to accept a two-year wage freeze,” Mr Lucas continued.

Also from the article:
“The morale of pilots has never been lower. We have totally lost confidence in Mr Goyder and his board.”
He said the national carrier desperately needs a culture reset, but that cannot happen if Mr Goyder remains chairman.

The pilots may have a point in this. I recall seeing headlines about organisational culture challenges in AFL, as well. What if there is a pattern and a common demoninator here? If there is, then the call to the Chairman to resign has resonance from this angle. Though, not having even second-hand knowledge of what it is like to work inside QF or AFL, I can only speculate based on what trickles into the public arena.

 

[Saab34]

Pilots have been calling for executive and board heads for as long as I’ve been alive.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Yes but there is popular, public and shareholder momentum behind them this time.

I think it's appropriate, if the company and Hudson is going to have the best chance at renewing the brand and reputation, he has to go.

I'm sure the volume of stories and press releases are not coincidental, this feels coordinated. As for the pay rises, how disgusting. I have no problem with high pay for directors and executives but to take an extra $100k with all the IR issues bubbling away is so out of touch, that it proves the whole point of why renewal is needed at a board level.

The disconnect has gone way too far between the front line and the board.

 

[DC3]

Unfortunately, when employees/unions call ‘no-confidence’ in the bosses, shareholders may think that the bosses must be doing something right to get them so antsy

Anyway, it won’t really matter what we at AFF think should happen.

 

[anat0l]

Anyway, it won’t really matter what we at AFF think should happen.

Sheesh, can you imagine if it did matter??

Online frequent flyer community calls the shots at national airline?

 

[offshore171]

Pilots have been calling for executive and board heads for as long as I’ve been alive.

I recall the leader of the aircraft mechanics union calling for Joyce to resign back in the day, and I think the baggage handler union rep did too.


But the story cited on previous page claims this is the first time the Pilots union has called for the Qantas Chairman to resign.

"Qantas pilots have added their voice to calls for chairman Richard Goyder to stand down, saying they have lost all confidence in him and his board of directors.
As Qantas announced more spending on “customer initiatives” in an effort to rebuild the airline’s reputation, the Australian and International Pilots Association said Mr Goyder must go.

AIPA president Tony Lucas said they had written to Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson informing her of the pilots’ position in a first for the association. "

 

[UP4014]

Insert any industry you like here but I'll use the airline industry. No board member as far as I can see states they can do a better job than a pilot, ground engineer, engine tech, airframe specialist, AFF poster, but, everyone can do a better job than the CEO and board.

Just putting it out there.

 

[DC3]

Online frequent flyer community calls the shots at national airline?

Yeah. Some of us seem to think that we know how to run an airline.

 

[anat0l]

Yeah. Some of us seem to think that we know how to run an airline.

Getting a bit off topic, but the funny thing is we probably do... except for a few major pain points, and one of them is finance.

There aren't many of us... heck, I'll almost wager none of us... who would know how to run an airline but be able to do so at a profit for years and years on end. We all know what things are supposed to be of value to an airline, but many of these are non-monetary things. We'd either be running the airline financially into the ground, running it out of financial security or clashing against the investors / shareholders.

And yes, I'm well aware that there are some of us on this who run their own businesses, possibly quite significant ones (maybe not Qantas large, but more than a SME).

Ironically, I've sat in on a couple of airline focus groups (those random ones where the airlines send you an email to join for an evening or a day and it's usually lead by some outside company, incentivised with some free food or drink) and listened to the responses of a bunch of people around the table about ideas that they propose would benefit the company. Most of the ideas are taken from what they have experienced at other airlines. None of them were new. Yet they all agreed that the airline would benefit from being more innovative. The conclusion is that many people who think they could run an airline are probably not innovative themselves by a country mile, or simply that, as Marco Pierre White has said, "we live in an era of refinement, not innovation".

 

[anyonebutqantas]

Aston accurately sized up and destroyed Goyder in his AFR column.

 

[Quickstatus]

When did pilots ever had confidence in the board?

 

[Sprucegoose]

There has been a sustained attack on Joyce by Rear Window in the AFR. So they removed access to the AFR in the lounge.

Some would say the Emperor has no clothes.

Or just a spiteful little man?

 

[RooFlyer]

Yeah. Some of us seem to think that we know how to run an airline.

Well, I think we have a fair idea what makes an airline attractive to fly on - so want to spend money on and make profits for the company shareholders.

Others of us know how to run a business that doesn’t gouge and ransack its customers for a couple of years and then have the brand crash and burn the following year. How's that for knowing how to run an airline?

As some others have pointed out, I doubt whether the current board or senior management have any comprehension of how it is to fly on Qantas by the public and not be cosseted by Chairmans lounge, priority treatment with everything.

I think if we heard what chairman Goyder is saying to his colleagues in the Chairmans lounge it would be something like "let them eat cake a 20c bag of pretzels or drink $20 plonk in the First Class lounge. We know our loyalists will keep coming back anyway."

 

[Pushka]

I think there are some golden rules that apply to all businesses regardless of what they do. One of those might just be - don't sell a product that you have no intentions of supplying.