TWU demands an explanation from Bain Capital over Virgin Australia CEO contender
The TWU says it’s worried that Virgin Australia would consider an architect of the unlawful Qantas outsourcing as its next chief executive.
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The Transport Workers Union has written to Virgin Australia’s owner Bain Capital to express concern that a frontrunner for the airline’s CEO job was found to be one of the architects of Qantas’s unlawful outsourcing.
As revealed exclusively by The Australian, Paul Jones is the last internal candidate in the running to replace Jayne Hrdlicka after chief financial officer Race Strauss and loyalty boss Nick Rohrlach were ruled out.
A mystery overseas contender is also being considered.
Mr Jones jumped ship from Qantas to Virgin Australia in 2021 to take on the role of chief customer and digital officer.
He was previously Qantas’ chief operating officer, and prior to that the executive manager of freight and airports — when the decision was taken to outsource 1683 ground handling jobs.
The TWU brought the case against Qantas with the Federal Court finding there was enough evidence to suggest the November 2020 decision was motivated by unlawful reasons.
Much of that evidence came from handwritten annotations made by Mr Jones referring to “Labor Government”, “locking in benefits” and “open EBA”, on material prepared for a group management committee meeting.
In a letter addressed to Bain Capital partner Mike Murphy, seen by The Australian, TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said the consideration of Mr Jones to lead Virgin was “great cause for concern”.
“Virgin Australia has a strong history of valuing workers. Staff felt that the crucial role they played for the airline was recognised, and were loyal in return,” wrote Mr Kaine.
“This has deteriorated recently and needs to be repaired. In our view, this would not be possible with Paul Jones as CEO.”
He pointed out that Virgin’s own staff sentiment survey released last year found less than 20 per cent of pilots agreed with the statement that “I rarely think about looking for a new job at another company”.
In addition only 3 per cent said they would recommend Virgin Australia to friends and relatives as a great place to work, and less than a third (32 per cent) agreed that their “feedback on safety was taken on board”.
Mr Kaine also highlighted comments made by Justice Michael Lee in his judgment in the outsourcing case, which was upheld by the Full Federal Court and High Court.
These included the observation Mr Jones was an unreliable witness and his “professed lack of recollection was disingenuous”.
“I do not consider it is safe to place any significant reliance upon (Mr Jones’) evidence,” said Justice Lee.
In that context, Mr Kaine said the TWU found it “alarming” such a person would be considered to run Virgin Australia.
“That this consideration is given at a time of turbulence between Virgin Australia management and staff is even more concerning,” wrote Mr Kaine.
He asked Mr Murphy to respond to several points including the criteria for CEO and how Mr Jones met that criteria and his position on Mr Jones’ role in the Qantas outsourcing matter.
Mr Kaine also sought Mr Murphy’s views on how the relationship between staff and management at Virgin would be repaired and the plans for an IPO.
An announcement on a new Virgin Australia CEO is expected in coming weeks. Ms Hrdlicka’s transition from the role was announced on February 20 taking staff and customers by surprise.
Since then, Ms Hrdlicka has kept a relatively low profile other than to announce plans to allow small pets in the cabin from 2025.
Virgin Australia referred questions about the TWU’s letter to Bain Capital. A spokesman for Bain said the firm was yet to decide whether to respond to the TWU but did not wish to comment further.
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Originally published as TWU demands an explanation from Bain Capital over Virgin Australia CEO contender
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