Qantas ultimatum: Planes stay on the ground
Qantas planes will not fly unless Fair Work Australia orders the termination of all industrial action, says CEO Alan Joyce.
In his efforts to win friends in the business community and influence the travelling public and the federal government with his hardline attack on the unions, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has swiftly become a polarising force within Australian society.
As genial and entertaining as he can be in private, Joyce has been uncompromising in public, particularly with his own workforce and especially with the union leaders who represent his employees.
Qantas chief Alan Joyce has reportedly earned $5 million this year. Photo: Reuters
There was already a fair amount of suspicion about Joyce's agenda and his motives when he took over from the long-serving Geoff Dixon, having set up the low-cost offshoot, Jetstar, which not only undercut Qantas' rivals but also the long term position of its parent airline.
While the success of Jetstar earnt Joyce plaudits at the highest levels of Qantas and secured him the top job, it has come at the expense of a warm working relationship within the company.
His efforts to first take his employees with him, then cajole them and now force them has only gone to reinforce attitudes that Joyce has little understanding for the Australian sense of fair play and partnership.
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Qantas fleet grounded
Qantas planes sit grounded at Sydney International Airport on October 30, 2011 a day after the country's national carrier grounded its entire fleet due to a bitter industrial row. Photo by AFP
Given his Irish background and Australia's deep cultural links with his home country, that may seem surprising to many but Joyce has never been one for emotion or, for that matter, dwelling on the past.
To that end, his willingness to play hardball with the future of the most iconic of Australian companies has been interpreted as a sign that he doesn't fully appreciate or truly understand what Qantas means to the country: that is an institution, part of Australia's fabric, rather than just another company.
Joyce would hotly dispute that view and has argued that if Qantas is to survive and retain its affectionate place in Australian society the airline has to be dramatically changed from within.
From Joyce's perspective that means saving Qantas from itself but to his opponents both inside and outside of the company the chief executive is being seen as more of a destroyer rather than a saviour.
Such polarised positions do not, therefore, bode well for the future of the Flying Kangaroo but given the increasingly ill-tempered nature of this dispute nobody should be surprised that it has come to this.
Danny John is the Herald's Business Editor
