Monday, October 31, 2011

Weird Conservative Ideology #qantas

Why we insist on bringing these "whiz-kids" to Australia to manage our icon businesses is just beyond me.

Does anyone remember the debacle that was the AMP under George Turnbull Trumbull - whose "red indian" reign led to a massive $5.5 billion write down at the insurer? He was rewarded with a $13 million termination payment.

What about Telstra and Sol Trujillo and the mess he created? Telstra’s share price dropped by 40 percent while the "hairy chested" little amigo collected $30 million.

Lets see what happens to the Qantas share price and the customer and staff satisfaction metrics as a result of the performance of this latest "whiz-kid".

Part of the Qantas corporate spin is about how their workforce is trying to bargain for some *unreasonable* and *unachievable* job security in their negotiations with the company.

Of course they are. Because for years Qantas managers have been doing their best to remove their workers' job security by outsourcing and offshoring their jobs to Asia, NZ and elsewhere. All in the pursuit of a "cheap and nasty" corporate culture that is so dear to the hearts of our managerial class.

Why is it so unreasonable for staff to attempt to re-gain some "job security"?

The Qantas spinmeisters and media commenteers are busy explaining that the concept of "job security" doesn't exist anymore. They point out that we no longer have jobs for life. And that is probably true.

Except that it doesn't matter so much when you are a Qantas Chief Executive on a AU$5 million salary - because you can afford to spend some down time catching up with your mates for lunch or golf or even a bit of hurling.

It does matter when you are a baggage handler on a AU$40k salary - struggling to feed your family and pay the mortgage.

But then I suppose baggage handlers and their families never catch planes - or at least they never catch Qantas ones so there is no need to treat them properly and pay them a real income.

What we have here is a failure to communicate and a dingbat ideology gone terribly wrong.

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