Quote:
Originally Posted by Kato
From my understanding it was the workers striking who were saying the planes weren't safe to fly in their comments. Therefore fleet grounded until it was resolved.
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From Alan Joyces' statement on Saturday.
The lock-out will commence from 8pm on Monday night Sydney local time and will continue until further notice.
Because the pilots, ramp, baggage and catering staff and licensed engineers are essential to the running of the airline, the lock-out makes it necessary for us to ground the fleet. However, I cannot wait until Monday to do so.
This is a very tense environment. Individual reactions to this lock-out decision may be unpredictable. We are always conservative in our approach.
For this reason, as a precautionary measure, we have decided to ground the Qantas international and domestic fleet immediately.
I repeat, we are grounding the Qantas fleet now.
There was not action planned by the workers, they had not given any notice, if they had striked, they would have been liable for fines of $22,000 each. Previous action taken by the land based unions were only for a few hrs, not 40hrs straight, and the pilots read announcement before landing and wore red ties. If the unions had escallated the dispute, then lock out the flights. Alan could obviously stop the planes as he saw fit, and did so.
The unions have been "negotiating" for a long time, they want the issue resolved, so going to WFA is in their best interests. The unions always believe their claims are just, we'll mine does anyway, this will bring a decision which may not be as good as they want, but its from the "courts" so they would be stuck with it.
If Alan Joyce can get a large pay rise, why can't the workers get a bit as well. Alan Joyce introduced Jetstar as a low cost budget alternative, so they have one. I'm happy to pay more for for a Australian flight, crewed by Australians, serviced here in Australia, by Australians. Let Alan Joyce run Jet Star, base himself in Asia, and go from there. BTW, the owners of Qanatas haven't received anything from Qantas's record profits, last payment was back in 08/09 of 6c, another reason for me to have sold today.