It’s amazing how a seemingly small event can so profoundly change your perspective.<\/p>\n
Two events have had this impact on me in the past week.<\/p>\n
The one that made me think about this post was actually the second event – But when Jackson announced her resignation, I felt sorry for her. Margaret As it is, she is seen to have mishandled the whole affiar. In business, you The other event to spark my thinking about changed perspectives was the screening At the time, those of us on the left were horrified by Corrigan’s tactics Having been brought up in a working class family, I still too readily see
\nthe resignation
\nof Margaret Jackson as chairman of the Qantas board<\/a>. I have had deep
\nqualms<\/a> about the APA
\nprivate equity takeover offer<\/a> for Qantas<\/a>.
\nMy initial reaction to Jackson’s
\npress comments<\/a> was cynical. She stood to make a substantial personal gain
\nif the bid succeeded. How could she avoid a conflict of interest I thought?
\nI took some perverse enjoyment from the collapse
\nof the bid<\/a>. I don’t like the arrogance of Private Equity much and it worries
\nme that a consortium like that can have such a huge impact on people’s lives.<\/p>\n
\nJackson<\/a> is recognised as one of, if not the, leading business women in
\nAustralia. She has been on the Qantas board for fifteen years and chairman
\nfor seven. When the bid was announced she would have to have thrown the dice.
\nWould she throw her weight behind the bid (with the personal cudos and financial
\nreward she would receive if it succeeded) or would she fight it. I don’t
\nknow how long she agonised over this decision, but it could not have been
\nautomatic. There was never a guarantee the bid would succeed. In the end,
\nit sat on a knife edge and failed by the slimmest
\nof margins<\/a>. Had the late offer been accepted, or received by the deadline
\nshe would have been seen as a master strategist, placing the airline in a
\nposition for its next phase of growth.<\/p>\n
\nare either one or the other. A hero or a villain. Never a real person with
\nstrenghts and weakness. With both doubts and courage.<\/p>\n
\nearlier this week on ABC TV<\/a> of the
\ndrama series Bastard Boys<\/a> –
\na fictionalised account of the 1998 Australian Waterfront
\nDispute<\/a>. Nominally this was a dispute between the Maritime
\nUnion of Australia (MUA)<\/a>, (led by John
\nCoombs)<\/a> and Patrick
\nStevedores<\/a> (then owned by Chris
\nCorrigan<\/a>). This dispute was a seminal piece of Australian industrial relations
\nhistory about the power and place of unions on the one side and the right of
\nmanagement to make changes to work practices on the other. The dispute involved
\nalmost everyone of note in industrial relations in Australia at the time, including Peter
\nReith<\/a> (Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business)
\nin the Howard
\nGovernment<\/a>; Greg
\nCombet<\/a> (then Assistant Secretary of the ACTU<\/a>)
\nand Bill
\nKelty<\/a> (the Secretary of the ACTU).<\/p>\n
\n(backed by Reith) of sacking his whole workforce, putting balaclava clad security
\nguards with guard dogs around the docks and bringing in a non-unionised workforce
\ntrained in Dubai<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nbosses as the enemy and unions as on the side of good. Although I could see
\nthere was obviously a desparate need for waterfront
\nreform<\/a> I felt Corrigan’s approach was beyond forgiveness. When Patrick
\nbought a share in Virgin Blue<\/a>,
\nI considered not flying with the airline anymore.<\/p>\n