WORKERS PROTEST AT CAIRNS AIRPORT FOR BETTER, SAFER JOBS
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Qantas’ governance review, released with a commitment to overhaul its culture, is confirmation of the colossal leadership failings that led to illegal sackings, a criminal conviction from the safety regulator, and action from the ACCC on ghost flights.
The decision to withhold $9.26 million of remuneration from former CEO Alan Joyce and $4.1 million from the wider executive team presents a step in the right direction for the future of Qantas.
The review found that there was a “focus on financial performance before stakeholders,” and that Qantas’ “strong safety culture was not representative of the leadership culture.” It also found there was “too much deference to a long-tenured CEO,” and that a top-down leadership approach was one of the key root causes for the failings at Qantas.
The review comes shortly before the transition to a new Chair, John Mullen, ahead of the Qantas AGM. The union worked constructively with Mullen during his tenure as Chair of transport operator Toll Holdings from 2017 to 2022 and praised his open-door approach to the interests and concerns of the workforce.
The TWU said this was a promising step from Qantas, but that it still had a long way to go.
Despite findings in the Federal Court, Full Court of Appeal and High Court that Qantas illegally outsourced 1700 ground workers, the airline has argued in court that the workers should neither be reinstated nor compensated. After three years the 1700 workers still have not received any compensation.
Safety standards in ground handling have plummeted, with reports in June of mishandled firearms, damaged aircraft and unbalanced plane loads at Swissport, which received the bulk of Qantas’ illegally outsourced work. Qantas has denied publicly and in court that there is any issue with standards, while reportedly flagging incidents and demanding improvements from Swissport.
TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said:
“This review is important because it verifies what workers, passengers and the Australian community have been saying for years: Qantas was a corporate dictatorship with a timorous Board incapable of speaking up to Alan Joyce as CEO, who prioritised a toxic “profits at all costs” culture.”
“Alan Joyce was instrumental in the destruction of a beloved Australian icon and the degradation of aviation jobs and standards over the span of 15 years, with the Board complicit throughout. The millions that have been withheld from Joyce and the Board are a drop in the ocean compared to what they’ve already received but it is the right decision.”
“Under incoming Chair John Mullen we are beginning to see signals of a positive movement back towards the Spirit of Australia. But a deeply-embedded culture of antagonism towards workers is not going to change overnight. The scale of devastation wrought by Alan Joyce is immense and will require a seismic shift in culture and attitudes.”
“1700 illegally outsourced Qantas ground staff still have not received a cent of compensation for the anguish they’ve endured the past three years. We need to see those workers receive compensation, and we need to see Qantas 100% committed to the cultural change it has promised and is in desperate need of.”
“Ultimately we need an independent decision-maker in aviation to ensure that in the future, these colossal failings of leadership and toxic culture cannot happen in the first place. A Safe and Secure Skies Commission would rebalance the scales towards customers and workers.”