The airline makes the decision whether they will supply training or not. As a union the best we can do is make sure the training is handed out fairly by asking those who have current quals to withold their application for the slots.
Management aren't offering training at Avalon. I'll repeat that, MANAGEMENT aren't offering training at Avalon. It is not your union that makes this decision.
Fighting for your future? Apart from the court cases that are currently running and constant meetings to try and convince Qantas to give Avalon more work (which they continue to refuse because they want you closed down). The press to highlight that they are sending more work offshore such as the Jetconnect 737 work.....
Yes, I remember now. We had 100,000 pamphlets printed last year to hand out at train stations to support HM in this country. We put out a notice seeking volunteers to help hand them out. Apart from our Reps, not one member responded and offered to dedicate one hour of his/her time to help out. There is only so much we can do mate in the court rooms and press, without the support of members we really are pushing ****e up hill.
And this, sadly, is where unions fail. It is meant to be a collective force, an expression of collective will--but when it comes to anything outside of attending a stop-work meeting, or maybe participating in a march, the membership will do nothing. Except whine about "why isn't the union doing something?" When it comes to a situation such as currently exists at Avalon, as an example, they really can do very little without mass , active membership support. Support that goes beyond paying their union dues, that is.
Long ago, I was a union member (unrelated industry), and I have seen the really ugly side of it, the one which exists to this very day, among the bottom feeders like the CFMEU, AWU, et al; I just won't be a part of it, and fear it returning to the industry I am currently in. The reps will say-"things are good now, but who will look after you when it turns bad?-" my answer? You certainly won't ,because you are powerless when the downsizing starts--you can't do a bloody thing except make meaningless noises for a TV camera.
Steve and the union he represents, is, to me, a shining example of what a union should be-unaffiliated to any political party, there for the members and not just a career step into a safe seat in lower house or senate, able to negotiate a decent EBA,and offer support to individual members with work-related issues: but, when the proverbial goes through the prop, the redundancy clauses the union had written into that EBA is all you have.
If the company wants to close their facility, they will do so.
The installation does not exist to provide you with a job, it provides a function for the company, and , particularly with the apparent attitudes of the current qantas management, all he can do is smooth the dying pillow if they want to close it. Unless, of course, an unparalleled show of support from ALL of the membership , and resulting media coverage, forces a company rethink.
Difficult to imagine it happening.
