1989- Pilots dispute 19 years on
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You reckon 'Blanche' might be a rather apt name for her at that point of the day?
..........
I think that when the bodgie finally falls off his perch, all the usual suspects like Phillip Adams et al will write their glowing testimonials about him. However, I suspect there'll be many in the labour movement (and the Labor Party too) who'll be more than a little muted in their praises of hawke. What he did in 1989 was set the scene for the measures John Howard later took in the workplace - and effectively blew all the wind out of the labour movement's sails, (long with the bottom out of their hull!), stifling any protest they might have made after they had stood by and watched him use the tactics he employed against a union.
Someone has used the phrase before: it was a Pyrrhic victory for hawke and the fat man (not too many even remember Jimmy Bow Tie after all this time).
The psych experts from the US that abeles brought in before the dispute told him the pilot group would fold in four days. The dispute, despite the glib comments of those who insist it was over the day we all resigned, lasted nine months. Its effects are still felt, certainly personally, but even moreso at the industrial level within Australian Aviation, to this day.
(Note: the absence of upper case letters for certain names is not a repeated typographical error, but my mild protest. Certain people are to this day so low in my esteem that they don't rate upper case letters in their names.)
..........
I think that when the bodgie finally falls off his perch, all the usual suspects like Phillip Adams et al will write their glowing testimonials about him. However, I suspect there'll be many in the labour movement (and the Labor Party too) who'll be more than a little muted in their praises of hawke. What he did in 1989 was set the scene for the measures John Howard later took in the workplace - and effectively blew all the wind out of the labour movement's sails, (long with the bottom out of their hull!), stifling any protest they might have made after they had stood by and watched him use the tactics he employed against a union.
Someone has used the phrase before: it was a Pyrrhic victory for hawke and the fat man (not too many even remember Jimmy Bow Tie after all this time).
The psych experts from the US that abeles brought in before the dispute told him the pilot group would fold in four days. The dispute, despite the glib comments of those who insist it was over the day we all resigned, lasted nine months. Its effects are still felt, certainly personally, but even moreso at the industrial level within Australian Aviation, to this day.
(Note: the absence of upper case letters for certain names is not a repeated typographical error, but my mild protest. Certain people are to this day so low in my esteem that they don't rate upper case letters in their names.)
Last edited by 410; 16th Jun 2008 at 09:14.
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Not oversight, obie; my point being that within the industry, he's so largely forgotten that he doesn't even rate the approbrium we all still reserve for hawke and the goanna.. sorry, the fat man, hence, he can have capitals. (The goanna 'slip' may take some explaining to the younger readers here.)
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Wiley,
Could not agree more with your comments. Hopefully, there were some more "lucky ones" as well.
410
When the bodgie falls off his perch? Yes, that will be a BIG day and will not be diminished by any teary comments from any journo or labor stalwarts.
Could not agree more with your comments. Hopefully, there were some more "lucky ones" as well.
410
When the bodgie falls off his perch? Yes, that will be a BIG day and will not be diminished by any teary comments from any journo or labor stalwarts.
Just watch all the Labor big men cry like Bill Kelty and co and then the top end of town Laberil's, like old Lindsay Fox will shed a tear for their lost comrade Bob, and tell us what a great bloke he was for the nation.
Then some journalist will cover all his achievements and how he worked singlehandedly to unite Australia under the accord, but will conviently forget to mention the 89 dispute and how Bob and the ALP and their mates shafted a group of people, and replaced with imported and local labor on a contracts, using the taxpayers money to keep his mates airline running by using the military etc, doing its very best to destroy the pilots union, getting the tax office to do lots of indepth audits on anyone who was a pilot in the following years after the dispute.
On you R. J. Hawke your a fecking legend!!!!
Then some journalist will cover all his achievements and how he worked singlehandedly to unite Australia under the accord, but will conviently forget to mention the 89 dispute and how Bob and the ALP and their mates shafted a group of people, and replaced with imported and local labor on a contracts, using the taxpayers money to keep his mates airline running by using the military etc, doing its very best to destroy the pilots union, getting the tax office to do lots of indepth audits on anyone who was a pilot in the following years after the dispute.
On you R. J. Hawke your a fecking legend!!!!
The thing is about RJLH there has been no rational debate about what he really stood for throughout out his long adversarial career as an industrial advocate. It is hard to deny that at one stage he would have had clearly formulated views as to what is needed to prosper a democratic nation. His long , varied and extraordinarily active career began with his appearance as an impressive junior before the full bench of the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission arguing the national wage case. Whether he is admired or despised today is irrelevant to his early achievements as a man who advanced the interests of the worker against the corporations and the employers. Maybe it can be argued that the worm had got to the core at an early stage and that he was never destined to fill the shoes of statesmen such as Curtin or Chifley and that absolute power would corrupt absolutely. But to do that requires a great deal of study and research so that glib gut reactions are not the keys. As far as his role in the Pilots' Dispute goes one thing that can be be seen with perfect 6/6 hindsight is that he was never going to be sympathetic to the pilots' case and that there can be no great shock horror now that he sanctioned the use, in effect, of the most excessive penal sanctions in modern Australian industrial history. The one constant in industrial, societal and political affairs is change. Those involved who cannot read the wind and foresee the ever changing elements have ever been of little or no use at the helm or on the bridge. ( Now if B.McC. had passed command over to JR, what then?)
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The general public have no idea of the 89 pilots dispute and don't care just like no one really remembers Ansett.
Some of the posts think the 89 dispute was a defining moment in Australian industrial history whereas in reality no one cares except for those involved.
May sound harsh but I've asked around.
Some of the posts think the 89 dispute was a defining moment in Australian industrial history whereas in reality no one cares except for those involved.
May sound harsh but I've asked around.
Moderator
I think that you miss the point ... everyone involved will fall by the wayside .. but the important thing is that a number of lessons be learnt so that the same mistakes (all round) are not made next time ... as they say .. those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
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I agree with OEB. Unless you were involved, who really cares. Same can be said for the waterfront dispute and Maggie Thatcher's attack on the coalminers in the UK. It's all history and the only people who may learn from history are those involved.
What nieve rubbish you do sprout forth with.
With an attitude like that I really hope you have to go through something like we did. Then 20 years later you can tell all the young top guns how you felt when they too tell you "no one cares"
if you think it can't happen to you or your kids then you are stupidly deluding yourself.
For gods sake learn from our past misjudgements and try NOT TO LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.
Although I fear with people like you out there IT WILL.
FOOL
With an attitude like that I really hope you have to go through something like we did. Then 20 years later you can tell all the young top guns how you felt when they too tell you "no one cares"
if you think it can't happen to you or your kids then you are stupidly deluding yourself.
For gods sake learn from our past misjudgements and try NOT TO LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.
Although I fear with people like you out there IT WILL.
FOOL
