sand dune
10th May 2002, 16:48
Hello, I’m Shelley C. with an ANN Update. As the AOA calls on Cathay Pacific to return to the bargaining table, many in and outside of the aviation industry are watching closely. It’s been nearly a year since the 49ers lost their jobs and Cathay management continue to use classic union busting techniques to intimidate the pilots. The tactics come as no surprise to Western Illinois University History Professor Dr. George Hopkins. Hopkins is a nationally recognized authority on the history of the airline pilot unionization. He is also the author or editor of several books including: “The Airline Pilots: A Study in Elite Unionization. Dr. Hopkins has visited the AOA in Hong Kong and joins us today by telephone to talk more about the lingering dispute.
{HOPKINS:} Well, from the beginning of the time I began studying this topic and that was back in the 1960’s as a doctoral dissertation, I’ve always been amazed at the similarities of disputes across time. It is always about management wanting more work for less money. It really never varies too far off of that norm and as long as pilots have some institutional means of responding to looking out for themselves and that is always by a union of some sort there are always going to be disputes. Historically, a dispute between labour and management is always seeking the middle ground. One old pilot once told me about the great old days; you know you have these fights and they are often quite bitter but they are like a marriage. When you have to fight fair, because when you fight fair in a marriage that means you get back in bed together when the fight is over. There is always a tendency and it’s always management that does this, to carry the fight beyond it to an unfair level where it makes it almost impossible to get back in bed. Now, the pilots have to get back in bed. Their skills are transferable but in a professional sense it’s disastrous to transfer these skills to a separate carrier so they are really committed to their companies often in a way managers often are not. The pilots have far more in stake in my view in these disputes then do the companies in question. Now if you look through the long history given this general parameter of labor management disputes in the airline industry, what you find is pilots are almost always the ones on the receiving ends of what might be called unfair practices. That form of unfair practice in the U.S. takes the form of hostage taking. That’s the letting go of pilots or selective firings of pilots. Sort of intimidate the rest of the pilot group and hold them hostage. It is always about some form of dispute with respect to pay or working conditions and so the problem here as I see it is the Cathay Pacific pilots are on the receiving end of one of these unfair techniques; this hostage taking or firing selectively of a cross section of pilots who have come to be known of course as the 49ers. It is certainly nothing new but it doesn’t make it any less reprehensible that it is an old tactic of management. That is my general view. The pilots do have in the United States, thanks to a body of labor law known as the Railway Labor Act they have institutional methods of responding to these kinds of things through a grievance process or something called the System Board of Adjustment. Unfortunately, that is not available to the Cathay pilots. They are caught in a situation where corporate power is unchecked and also where the structure of labour law in the form of crown colony Hong Kong does not give them much in the way of means of approach to remedy this unfair response as I see it. Or this kind of response will make it difficult for people to get back in bed making it thus not a fair marital fight. The great weapon at this point, as is always true in pilot unions, is their solidarity. IF they can stick together internally and from what I saw in Hong Kong they are doing a good job of that then they will be able to bring pressure on management in a variety of subtle ways short of a work stoppage. Always the ultimate or nuclear weapon as it were of a withdrawal of service where you can carry a contract dispute to the level of simply depriving the company of service. I suspect that Cathay Pacific believes these pilots will not strike. It is always a very dramatic step for pilot unions to deprive the company of their services because they have so much at stake in the success of this airline; far more than management does.
{SHELLEY:} Dr. Hopkins, Cathay’s pilots are calling on management to agree to an independent mediator to resolve this current impasse. It’s my understanding that there has been no response from the company, what is your take on this?
{HOPKINS:} In the long history of mediation in these disputes, where it reaches what under the terms of the Railway Labor Act in the United States is called an ‘economic contest’ that’s the Railway Labor Act’s way of referring to a strike. There is always a call for independent mediators. Other times there are other techniques outside the Railway Labor Act’s structure for independent mediators to be involved. I would find that it is almost always that the side that is most anxious to settle the dispute on an equitable basis is the one who is calling for mediation. The one who resists mediation is usually the side with something to hide or something it wishes the public did not know about. Usually, this decision to hammer the pilots, than they reject all attempts at mediation.
{SHELLEY:}That was Dr. George Hopkins, professor and author. We’ll have the 2nd part of Dr. Hopkins interview coming up. Thanks for watching and have a nice day.
CX management got rid of 50+ great Pilots and individuals with an average of twelve years and 8,000 hrs of highly professional service to Cathay Pacific. One guy had 24 years of service and was six months away from retirement. The 49ers list includes a great majority of highly intelligent natural born leaders (obviously a threat to management). What on earth makes you think that they will treat you any different? If you have always been a leader and a winner, why change it now? Be patient and good things will come to you.
In joining this Company at this time, you are only helping the management in perpetuating one of the greatest travesties of civil aviation. They have kidnapped the « fun of flying » from everyone in the Company. The ongoing problems will NOT GO AWAY after you have joined, they will only get worse BECAUSE YOU have joined. How can anyone even think about helping this corrupt management in a time like this? Stand up and have some moral fibre and wait until this dispute is over.
{HOPKINS:} Well, from the beginning of the time I began studying this topic and that was back in the 1960’s as a doctoral dissertation, I’ve always been amazed at the similarities of disputes across time. It is always about management wanting more work for less money. It really never varies too far off of that norm and as long as pilots have some institutional means of responding to looking out for themselves and that is always by a union of some sort there are always going to be disputes. Historically, a dispute between labour and management is always seeking the middle ground. One old pilot once told me about the great old days; you know you have these fights and they are often quite bitter but they are like a marriage. When you have to fight fair, because when you fight fair in a marriage that means you get back in bed together when the fight is over. There is always a tendency and it’s always management that does this, to carry the fight beyond it to an unfair level where it makes it almost impossible to get back in bed. Now, the pilots have to get back in bed. Their skills are transferable but in a professional sense it’s disastrous to transfer these skills to a separate carrier so they are really committed to their companies often in a way managers often are not. The pilots have far more in stake in my view in these disputes then do the companies in question. Now if you look through the long history given this general parameter of labor management disputes in the airline industry, what you find is pilots are almost always the ones on the receiving ends of what might be called unfair practices. That form of unfair practice in the U.S. takes the form of hostage taking. That’s the letting go of pilots or selective firings of pilots. Sort of intimidate the rest of the pilot group and hold them hostage. It is always about some form of dispute with respect to pay or working conditions and so the problem here as I see it is the Cathay Pacific pilots are on the receiving end of one of these unfair techniques; this hostage taking or firing selectively of a cross section of pilots who have come to be known of course as the 49ers. It is certainly nothing new but it doesn’t make it any less reprehensible that it is an old tactic of management. That is my general view. The pilots do have in the United States, thanks to a body of labor law known as the Railway Labor Act they have institutional methods of responding to these kinds of things through a grievance process or something called the System Board of Adjustment. Unfortunately, that is not available to the Cathay pilots. They are caught in a situation where corporate power is unchecked and also where the structure of labour law in the form of crown colony Hong Kong does not give them much in the way of means of approach to remedy this unfair response as I see it. Or this kind of response will make it difficult for people to get back in bed making it thus not a fair marital fight. The great weapon at this point, as is always true in pilot unions, is their solidarity. IF they can stick together internally and from what I saw in Hong Kong they are doing a good job of that then they will be able to bring pressure on management in a variety of subtle ways short of a work stoppage. Always the ultimate or nuclear weapon as it were of a withdrawal of service where you can carry a contract dispute to the level of simply depriving the company of service. I suspect that Cathay Pacific believes these pilots will not strike. It is always a very dramatic step for pilot unions to deprive the company of their services because they have so much at stake in the success of this airline; far more than management does.
{SHELLEY:} Dr. Hopkins, Cathay’s pilots are calling on management to agree to an independent mediator to resolve this current impasse. It’s my understanding that there has been no response from the company, what is your take on this?
{HOPKINS:} In the long history of mediation in these disputes, where it reaches what under the terms of the Railway Labor Act in the United States is called an ‘economic contest’ that’s the Railway Labor Act’s way of referring to a strike. There is always a call for independent mediators. Other times there are other techniques outside the Railway Labor Act’s structure for independent mediators to be involved. I would find that it is almost always that the side that is most anxious to settle the dispute on an equitable basis is the one who is calling for mediation. The one who resists mediation is usually the side with something to hide or something it wishes the public did not know about. Usually, this decision to hammer the pilots, than they reject all attempts at mediation.
{SHELLEY:}That was Dr. George Hopkins, professor and author. We’ll have the 2nd part of Dr. Hopkins interview coming up. Thanks for watching and have a nice day.
CX management got rid of 50+ great Pilots and individuals with an average of twelve years and 8,000 hrs of highly professional service to Cathay Pacific. One guy had 24 years of service and was six months away from retirement. The 49ers list includes a great majority of highly intelligent natural born leaders (obviously a threat to management). What on earth makes you think that they will treat you any different? If you have always been a leader and a winner, why change it now? Be patient and good things will come to you.
In joining this Company at this time, you are only helping the management in perpetuating one of the greatest travesties of civil aviation. They have kidnapped the « fun of flying » from everyone in the Company. The ongoing problems will NOT GO AWAY after you have joined, they will only get worse BECAUSE YOU have joined. How can anyone even think about helping this corrupt management in a time like this? Stand up and have some moral fibre and wait until this dispute is over.