Qantas Grounds Fleet Amid Row With Unions

[Hom3r]

Australian airline Qantas has grounded its entire international and domestic fleet in the face of a bitter dispute with unions.

The carrier also said it was locking out all staff involved in industrial action from Monday evening.
The move is expected to cost the company up to £13m a day and affect some 70,000 passengers.
In the UK, four Qantas flights due to depart from London Heathrow today will now not fly, and another four flights on Sunday will also not leave.

http://news.sky.com/home/business/article/16098874

[Dai]

Those aussies don't do things by halves, do they?

[Hom3r]

Originally Posted by DaiNasty

Those aussies don't do things by halves, do they?

Perhap BA should have one this.

[Sirius]

I think those unions have a task on there hands now considering it coming up to Christmas and the people on strike will not be getting paid.

Some how i don't think they will be looking forward to a happy Christmas unless they sort the problem out.

Well done Qantas ... Play them at their own game.

[LondonRoad]

Originally Posted by Chris

Well done Qantas ... Play them at their own game.

So the employer who gives no notice to it's customers, even those already in transit, or to the Government is to be applauded.

Yet you condemn a trade union who has gone through a democratic process and gives the public, the employer and the government adequate notice.

You're so funny.

[Sirius]

Further info here

Originally Posted by LondonRoad

So the employer who gives no notice to it's customers, even those already in transit, or to the Government is to be applauded.

Yet you condemn a trade union who has gone through a democratic process and gives the public, the employer and the government adequate notice.

You're so funny.

I don't think it's remotely funny, no. But I don't think trade union activism is funny either, even when forced to operate under the fig-leaf of respectability granted it by legislation.

We are a long way from the days of satanic mills, arbitrary mass-sackings, wage cuts and non-existent health and safety that brought the movement into being. I don't believe the unions involved here have any business in telling the management of the company that they disagree with strategic changes that might result in the company 'not being Australian enough'.

They're not employed in a worker's cooperative, they're employed by a public listed company. If they want to forge a business strategy they should either seek promotion to management positions or else go and form their own company and make it as Australian as they like.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Chris

I don't think it's remotely funny, no. But I don't think trade union activism is funny either, even when forced to operate under the fig-leaf of respectability granted it by legislation.

We are a long way from the days of satanic mills, arbitrary mass-sackings, wage cuts and non-existent health and safety that brought the movement into being. I don't believe the unions involved here have any business in telling the management of the company that they disagree with strategic changes that might result in the company 'not being Australian enough'.

They're not employed in a worker's cooperative, they're employed by a public listed company. If they want to forge a business strategy they should either seek promotion to management positions or else go and form their own company and make it as Australian as they like.

Chris is once again a beacon of light in a forum of darkness.

I saw the union man on the news this morning, if I'd looked up in the dictionary the definition of union gob***** there would have a picture of him.

I think the boss of Qantas has shot his company in the foot.Customers are going to remember it was him who stranded them not the unions..

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

I think the boss of Qantas has shot his company in the foot.Customers are going to remember it was him who stranded them not the unions.. :crm:

It would depend on the way it is presented to the public. Of all the video i have seen so far its always Qantas management and they are pointing the reason for the shut down squarely at the union, It will come down to who has more money i think.

quote from the FT.com

Qantas flights remained grounded for a second day on Sunday after management of Australia’s national airline took the unexpected step of halting all flights, an extraordinary escalation of a long-running dispute with three of its unions over the airline’s proposed restructuring and job cuts.

Officials from the airline and the unions were meeting on Sunday before a government-convened emergency tribunal, which could order Qantas to resume flights and unions to end work stoppages if it decides that the dispute is “significant damage to the economy or an important part of it,” according to the tribunal’s website. The hearing began on Saturday night but adjourned without a resolution.

And also

http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/1...60196220111030

It will depend on how stranded passengers are treated and remunerated..And I know from what I've heard I'd be blaming the boss.

After all under union laws the public gets some warning about strikes.Personally it's the lack of warning is what sticks in the craw in this circumstance.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

It will depend on how stranded passengers are treated and remunerated..And I know from what I've heard I'd be blaming the boss.

After all under union laws the public gets some warning about strikes.Personally it's the lack of warning is what sticks in the craw in this circumstance.

I agree, This is going to be a who can sway the public to there side more type of conflict

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Chris

I don't think it's remotely funny, no. But I don't think trade union activism is funny either, even when forced to operate under the fig-leaf of respectability granted it by legislation.

They're not employed in a worker's cooperative, they're employed by a public listed company. If they want to forge a business strategy they should either seek promotion to management positions or else go and form their own company and make it as Australian as they like.

They're not employed by a public company, they're employed by workers to protect their rights and that fig leaf is probably the most heavily legislated part of their democracy if it's anything like here.

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

They're not employed by a public company, they're employed by workers to protect their rights and that fig leaf is probably the most heavily legislated part of their democracy if it's anything like here.

The staff of Qantas are employed by Qantas, which is a publicly-traded company.