lisa.greek wrote on May 17
th, 2012 at 3:21pm:
Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 17
th, 2012 at 12:49pm:
Yes, the disruption to my family for which this PM is directly responsible is something that will sit with us for a long time.
Whilst I am sorry that your family suffered financial issues, the Australian economy and people suffered far more than that. That pilot strike - in search of a 29% pay rise crippled Australia and cost more than the Vietnam War! People around the country lost their jobs all because a bunch of greedy, elitist ar*eholes felt they were so important they couldn't be done without.
Well they were done without! And in a final huff, they refused to attend meetings to try and resolve the dispute then the pilots resiegned, only to be replaced with ones from overseas.
The good thing here is when they finally came to their senses, the airlines refused to take them back - so yes - many had to leave and go overseas.
Hawke compared them I think - with Pakistani bus drivers and called their bluff
I have no sympathy for them whatsoever. They basically caused their own demise through greed and self importance.
That's one view of it, which is not an uninformed one in comparison to most views on it I have read on here but it is very different to the recollections of my father and his colleagues.
The 29% figure is bandied about, the crux of the demand though was for the upgrade to occur over a set period of time and in stages.
The basis behind this was that he and his colleagues had the same qualifications as those working for Air France, Lufthansa, BA, Cathay etc but being paid a 80% set amount in comparison.
The benefits also offered to those pilots was almost 3 times what were on offer to my father and his colleagues.
The demands they made were not unreasonable, they had seen their wages suppressed for a consistent period of 3-5 years and all they were simply asking was to be brought to a semblance of parity with their industry.
My father was one of the guys at the forefront of this being a guy of 25+ years industry experience and attended several of the meetings with Hawke's men.
He said their attitude immediately from day 1 was one of confrontation.
I have no doubt this is the 100% truth but one of the Government negotiators actually started off with "I don't know who you blokes think you are, just because you can fly a plane you think you can have this Government over a barrel and to hell with the Australian workers...". The fact my old man recalls it word for word, suggests that's exactly what was said.
They never seriously considered the negotiating point of the Pilot Union.
They deliberately put the pilots into a shocking position of needing to stump up their own super to keep the action going and in the end my father had to resign to face bankrupcy.
What I find more a disgrace is that Cathay offered him a role paying him what he wanted - but he had to leave Australia to get it.
His friends ended up with Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, British Midland to name but a few.
So Hawke (and Australia) stood firm and in the process we the country lost hundreds of top class employees and skilled workers.
It was a dispute that remains a disgraceful sell-out and which Hawke will not live down.
The fact he would call guys who can operate the most difficult machines in the world, are always studying, are in charge of the safety of hundreds of people everyday as "glorified bus drivers" shows his ignorance.
My father once landed a fully loaded 737 into Alice Springs with one engine completely out and the other showing 50% fault capacity with a high cross wind. I would like to see your bus driver do that.
Hawke? I wouldn't give you a bucket of p*ss for him.
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