gobbledonk Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 The last 48 hours have been a crazy time for QANTAS and the est 70,000 passengers whose lives were thrown into turmoil by the CEO's decision to ground the airline: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/qantas-crisis-who-won-and-whos-to-blame/story-e6frfq80-1226181160200 Plenty of finger pointing, but I think Joyce has pulled off an absolute coup. When he did it, my initial thought was 'What a colossal dickhead !', but he got what the QANTAS board and the shareholders wanted - an end to piecemeal disruptions by various Unions. I dont know who is 'right' or 'wrong' here, and I dont take any particular joy in seeing Australian jobs outsourced to cheaper labour, but I cant see how they can compete with Singapore Airlines and others while they continue to pay Australian wages (and reportedly generous wages at that). To me, its inevitable that we will see Asian crews on most, if not all, of our airlines, domestically and internationally. The unions like to trot out the wages paid to Air Asia and Jetstar crews flying in and out of Thailand, completely failing to mention that you cant compare the cost of living (modestly) in a Bangkok suburb to living in an Australian city. Interesting times ahead. Keen to know how many would still be willing to risk a Qantas flight after the events of the last month or so ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Qantas wants out of Australia and into Asia where they can pay people peanuts and make some real money. Fuck'em. They're back at work today. I'll fly with any airline that's convenient and gives me a good deal on short notice bookings. Strangely enough the mainstream airlines do better deals than the budget people. My last half dozen bookings in two years have been Cathay, Qantas/BA (4 times) and Singapore Airlines the most recent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Qantas wants out of Australia and into Asia where they can pay people peanuts and make some real money. Fuck'em. They're back at work today. I'll fly with any airline that's convenient and gives me a good deal on short notice bookings. Strangely enough the mainstream airlines do better deals than the budget people. My last half dozen bookings in two years have been Cathay, Qantas/BA (4 times) and Singapore Airlines the most recent. Not for a long while now ..we fly Thai first choice then BA then Singapore What a huge mess (Qantas) they have become ...shame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Nice to see you getting behind the unions TB, seen the light where the Libs are concerned eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Several of my students were hired as air hostesses by QANTAS. They got nowhere near the same salary as Aussies would. Same with the others -JAL etc. People doing the exact same work - but getting paid different salaries based on their nationality. Such seems to be the rule. There was a JAL pilot on the old Nanaplaza board, ROYPILOT - retired USAF Lt Col. He was the captain of the flight, but his Japanese copilot got paid more ... simply because he was Japanese. Used to burn Roy up a lot. (Wonder what's happened to him? Must be retired by now. He was a young airman in RVN and got commissioned after he got out and went to university.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted October 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Thanks for that Flash - fascinating to see the usual 'white Raj' thing turned on its head ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Roy told me that one day he referred to JAL as "our company". He was very quickly corrected: "It is not your company, it is OUR company. And you work for US." He said he was angry enough to quit on the spot, but didn't since the pay was good even as a non-Japanese pilot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Nice to see you getting behind the unions TB, seen the light where the Libs are concerned eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted November 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Roy told me that one day he referred to JAL as "our company". He was very quickly corrected: "It is not your company, it is OUR company. And you work for US." He said he was angry enough to quit on the spot, but didn't since the pay was good even as a non-Japanese pilot. I consider Japanese corporate culture to be among the most brutal in the world. It didnt surprise me when they started publishing reports of workers being found dead at their desks in companies like Sony. Add the Japanese tradition of compliance to their 'masters' wishes, and to me its another society which remains feudal despite the 'modern democracy' veneer. The tsunami and the meltdown at the power plant seems to have shaken some of that, and I'm hearing more 'voices of dissent' each time we send a Foreign Correspondent crew back to Japan. All we need to do now is convince them that whaling isn't in humanity's interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted November 2, 2011 Report Share Posted November 2, 2011 I once saw a young Thai gal in Bangkok wearing a black t-shirt with a mushroom cloud on it. The text said "Two bombs weren't enough." It a surprise some Japanese tourist didn't punch her lights out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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