if the grounding of the Airline was not confrontational,
what is ??
The grounding didn't confront the unions directly. It was a highly dangerous ploy to get the government to do the job for management. I say dangerous because it carried the risk of further trashing of the brand. Something that I feel happened to some extent & something that management don't seem to be too concerned about.
It also had the advantage that a direction to return to work would be pretty much binding & would kill off any further industrial action.