The problem with Alan Joyce & Qantas.........

Alan Joyce's hands are tied!

Not only, Qantas Labor & operating costs in Australia far outweigh his competitors' from SE Asia & Middle East, but also many of those are either Government backed or have no restrictions on raising funds through various ownership structures. Qantas Unions have not helped Joyce either by showing inflexibility in dealing with a much loathed boss.

And after all, Qantas, after years of enjoying protection in the lucrative Sydney-LA route, is finally facing what almost all other major European & American airlines have faced in the past 20 years, and some in multiple occasions. Distressingly enough, without direct Government intervention, history shows most national airlines have to file for bankruptcy.

But Alan Joyce & his management still deserve the wrath of the public & not just because of the manner Joyce announced the sacking of 5000 employees today. Rather, more crucially because he has badly underestimated three critical non tangible factors:

a) Poor Customer Service: Most of Qantas competitors, to name a few, Singapore Airlines, Cathay pacific, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad, Korean Air, and even Thai Airways & Malaysian Airlines have succeeded in providing far better service than Qantas whilst Qantas has rather arrogantly ignored this significant PR factor in its management strategy for many years.

b) Damaging a National Icon: Alan Joyce has totally underestimated the level of public backlash he & his team will undoubtedly have to deal with by damaging a much loved National Icon, the Flying Kangaroo!

c) Alan Joyce took on the Qantas Unions a few years ago & in doing so, lost their support forever. As brave as his actions were, he also mishandled the PR aspects of that & no boss can expect cooperation from the unions after such a public confrontation!

In mishandling all of the above, surely Alan Joyce & his senior management team have made their positions untenable.

Alan Joyce insists he wants to stay in the top job, and who can blame him! His CV has UNEMPLOYABLE written all over it after this rather poorly handled & monumental stuff up.

The problem with Paul Howes........

Paul Howes, the Australian Workers Union National Secretory, in a speech at the Press Club today criticised the current industrial relations system as a drag on Australia's economy.

Paul Howes is of course best known as one of the faceless powerbroker architects of the disastrous coup against Kevin Rudd in 2010, and more recently for his rather humiliating backdown in the hotly contested race to land Bob Carr's vacated plum Labor Senate seat in NSW.

The problem with Paul Howes is, he's desperately trying to redefine his power base in the Union movement, the Labor Party & more broadly to shape his political future, which as it stands right now, is looking pretty shaky & uncertain.

So, I guess today he decided to have a go at portraying himself in the same pragmatic mould of Bob Hawke & Paul Keating in the 80s & their historic march towards forcing the Unions to agree to the "wage accord".

But it remains to be seen whether it is too little, too desperate & too late for Paul Howes to gain traction to redefine his political career!