Posted to The Age (1/1/2011) on 1/1/2011) at 12:12 PM
Commenting on “Qantas recriminations fly”
http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/qantas-recriminations-fly-20111031-1msbz.html
Unfortunately, one cannot have his cake and eat it too. I’ve written on many occasions about the potential negative impact on online buying, especially from overseas, and buying cheaper imports. We are, in fact, outsourcing our wholesale and retail businesses overseas, and as a result there will be loss of local sales and subsequently causing huge unemployment and closure of businesses.
Convenience comes with a price, in fact, a humongous one. Qantas losing its competitive edge is no difference from other wholesalers and retailers. All airlines experience similar pain much earlier than the non-aviation industries. For quite awhile, air travel consumers have been using online booking and online check-in, booking connecting flights with cheaper airlines from overseas which employ cheaper labour for maintenance and in-flight service.
Like water, it will find its own level. Due to higher standard of living, an average Australian earns more than many people living in developing countries; we want to work less hours, less laborious work, more leisure, and own more. We buy products from these countries because they are cheaper, our money flows out of Australia, and our kitties have less, while their levels rise. Australian leisure industries are hopeful to benefit, but we turn to cheaper overseas holidays. Overseas countries benefit from our spending and keep hundreds of thousands of their citizens employed, and our situation goes south.
Posted to The Age (1/1/2011) on 1/1/2011) at 12:16 PM
Commenting on “Qantas recriminations fly”
http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/qantas-recriminations-fly-20111031-1msbz.html
Adding to this disgust is that since we do not want to work in blue collar jobs, like other technologically advanced countries, we hand over years of research materials to them. They learn new skills and build machineries that we have not heard of or use by our own people. Eventually, like water, our standard of living level goes down and theirs rise.
Virgin Airline in Australia can afford to pay more because they have a smaller fleet, and fly to more selective, profitable destinations. Sun Tze Bing Fa has written that “The best way to win a war (competition) is to destabilise the enemies (competitors), causing internal unrest”, and by doing so, “one spends less energy in destroying the enemy (competitors)”.
Continual dispute is going to bring down the Flying Kangaroo. The dogmatic and pig-headed Alan Joyce’s move to ground Qantas, the wait-and-see, indecisive and inapt Government’s intervention, the uncompromising union’s demand, the nagging reminder of the pay differential, Qantas’ less than honest communication have caused huge damage to Australian tourism business, and definitely leads on to loss of employment.
Soon, Qantas like many Australian icons will be gone for good to foreign owners, with their business name registered in foreign country, and therefore entitled them to use foreign staff without further industrial problem caused by the Australian union. As for those mega-million buck CEOs and Executives, they can get transferred to work overseas, continue to receive bonuses and huge payout when they finally call it a day.
