Qantas offers redundancy to all 7000 of its cabin crew

[David Ramsay]

It only started out as one bird, mate.

[Greg Wood]

Whats wrong with this airline ??? morale must be at an all time low! these people have no job security with this on going need by QF to constanty cut costs, didnt they return a modest profit LFY at where did that $$$ go ???After all a companies best asset are its employees.

[Andrew P]

Greg

its VOLUNTARY, whats the problem with that!!!

[Nigel C]

It's actually a good way of the dead wood leaving without the need for chainsaws. You may well find the morale in the cabin improves when those who may have been griping for a long time actually leave...

[Garry Emanuel]

First up - "asking for expressions of interest" !

Second - where in any contract of employment does the expression "job security" get included ?

Third - albeit we all have views on how an airline/telco/bank should be run, only a few have the dubious challenge of doing it. Qantas is responding to what lies ahead of them and at this stage, is doing it with a measured approach. Read "one that many (understandably) don't like !

I am sure the media sensationalism will cut in shortly and give a new dimension - thousands of jobs lost, executives pocketing thousands of dollars in bonuses and so on. Perhaps even a theme on safety and "the A380 incident".

Reality in my mind - they need to make decisions; some options will not sit well with all players; media will pounce every time there is a remotely negative theme; QF will take a PR hit; the planes will continue to fly; the unions will win some ground; the masses will migrate to VA and JQ; QF will need to make further trims; the merry-go-round will continue; VA or JQ will have similar issues in the future !

We all live happily ever after ! ! ! ! Perhaps ! ! !

[Graham F]

I have been through 2 redundancies, not in the airline industry though. While it may seem like a good way to get rid of dead wood, what actually happens is many of the good staff who can easily find other employment leave and the dead wood which couldn't find other jobs stay. So overall you end up with a lower standard of worker. Its the great way to further lower morale in a workforce.
Poor Qantas staff, it is only going to get worse.

[Arthur Boy]

Here we go!! Agree entirley with Grahm F's sentiments above.....and thats the problem with opening it up to everyone, the good get going with a free pocket full of cash! Which leaves the same useless 'coffee or tea?' drones.....hang on, maybe thats the plan??....geniuses!!!

The clock is ticking for the departure of the lepricorn and the puppet master, kinda makes Geoff 'the sky is constantly falling' Dixon look like a good option I say!! Cant be any worse than the current bunch of morale destroying incompetents running the joint. and IMHO James is welcome to take the bigger chair also!

rant over!

[Ash W]

So Aurthur et al how would you run the business?

Sadly changes are needed and those changes are going to upset everyone. The airline business is very competitive. I read these and other boards and see how people think the sun shines out the proverbial of the likes of Singapore, Ethiad, Emirates etc and are happy to take their business there but still carry on about how uncompetitive Qantas is. The reality is they are uncompetitive because they cannot afford to be competitive. All that new product costs money, but Qantas has to spend what they earn elsewhere.

The way the business is run now is more suited to the days of a heavily regulated 2 airline industry such as we had in Australia and heavily regulated international operations where home rights were protected much more than they are today.

So bottom line IMO is Mr Joyce is doing what he NEEDS to do, like it or lump it. If Qantas is to survive massive change is needed.

[Todd Hendry]

So bottom line IMO is Mr Joyce is doing what he NEEDS to do, like it or lump it. If Qantas is to survive massive change is needed.

Like buying 777's. Management has a lot to answer for.

[Luke A]

Simple point is that Qantas need to change. It’s unfortunate, but legacy carriers are a thing of the past. Qantas are loosing money and need to find a way to bring in the revenue. Your ticket prices are determined by your competitors. Increase them and your customers will disappear. So how do you help the bottom line? You need to cut costs. It’s easy to be an ‘arm-chair’ Ceo, but Qantas need to act fast. Sell some aircraft but immediately lease them back and start looking seriously for an airline with cash to merge with. Maybe wrap up Qantas International and allow Jetstar International to franchise as Qantas, who knows. But something like that needs to happen. Its going to be a very interesting year ahead.