So let me get this straight.
Qantas Long-Haul pilots have not been on strike since 1966.
No BLF style, balaklava and base-ball bat negotiation tactics have been used.
Each time both the Union and the Management of the day had to agree to a negotiated proposal prior to submission to the rank and file members.(Am aware of arbitrated settlements from days gone by)
If the proposal ever got voted down ,back to negotiations and a new proposal, agreed to by both parties, would be re-submitted for a new vote.
So what exactly is Qantas Management now telling us?
Qantas pilots are too expensive and not efficient enough because the very same contract that Management have given tacit approval to ,over all these years is the root cause of Long-Hauls uncompetitiveness?
Would I be correct in summising from the Chief Pilots letter that Qantas Management are now so bereft of a business strategy apart from cost-cutting and off-shoring Aussie jobs onto cooly terms and conditions that they are no longer willing to negotiate on anything but their own agenda?.
In the same vein, even if Qantas pilots took this latest EBA inspired hyperbole at face value (pretty hard with 16% engagement levels amongst the line pilots) and the pilots were willing to take sizable pay cuts and worked a bit harder do you really think that Management would take their focus away from their off-shoring of jobs and guarantee their careers?
I wonder when the penny will finally drop?
Will the 500 odd Qantas pilots who will more than likely be retrenched , think about how many 767's and 747's that are mooted to be replaced come the introduction of the 787 ,finally wake up to the war that has been declared on them by Management?
If Management are not too careful the pilots might finally see themselves in a lose-lose situation with nothing to gain and say f*&k it ,if I'm going down then ........ (images of the russian retreat in Stalingrad come to mind, ie scorched earth policy)
Last edited by blow.n.gasket; 9th Feb 2011 at 11:16.