Look what's wrong with you blokes, what part of this don't you understand, you keep going on about Ables, Hawke, scabs etc, amazing you don't metion Oldmeadow and Coysh but they were huge in the your demise in '89... and what pay rises they did or did not give themselves, its all irrelevant, what you have to understand is that the pilots were not in a position to dictate to anyone any more, time was up.
Hawke was out to get the AFAP, as they would not be part of the ACTU and wanted to negotiate outside the accord, I mean who sat there in the old parliament house in CBR all having a wonderfull Hawke inspired talk-fest, Ables and all the leaders in big business, who are in a position to give themselves big payrises anytime they want, like it or not.
The airlines knew, that under deregulation that was looming the work practices that were in place were not sustainable, in the future negaotiations with the AFAP were going to be difficult as the work conditions would have to be wound back to gain greater productivity to be able to compete with any new starts.
The AFAP for years now have lived in a false world of their own making, bludgeoning the airlines whenever they wanted and always won, you would have noticed that the negotiations where done on the divide and rule just like the bosses are accused of, that is Ansett and TAA negotiations were always apart, so as trouble was looming for TAA for instance, Ansett was making hay, then it would be Ansett's turn and TAA would get the advantage, and so it went on.
Yes there was a wage explosion among the elite of the professional world and judges, doctors, bussiness leaders etc gave themselves large pay rises, so the AFAP thought we will do the same, notably that deregulation is looming and this might be our last chance to get a descent payrise and thus blundered into a major conflict with everybody.
The trouble with you blokes that call others scabs, is that you put your selves on some peddestal, that you are be all and end all, pilots to these wheelers and dealers are just fodder, no more that a component that makes money for them, and you as that component if you want to survive better keep re inventing yourself or otherwise you become uncompetitive, this is what companies do but the average boofhead does not see or understand that.
All you scab haters seem to think that if no one returned then you would have been ok like Alice in Wonderland, but that is not the real world, like I keep saying others see the world diffrently, its amazing that you think that way, and you all really knew, that some you would always go back.
There will never be another '89 type strike again, AIPA at Qantas would never do that as they know the same thing would happen as in '89, there would be **** load of guys that would just go back, do you think that this great brotherhood exists in
VB or Jet*, you better belive NOT as it never was there in the first place, it was always an uneasy truce while the going was good, but built on intimidation and thuggery.
You can mince it, slice it or dice it, but the guys that run the corporations and this country call the shots, its just the way it is, pilots are just employees, to be and mix it with the big guys then you know what you have to do, then and only then will you see it from their side.