Pyrpolizer wrote:Quoting from your OWN LINK:
The Dispute, which has never been resolved, has resulted in nearly 80 % of the pilots involved not returning to their former positions, despite the pay rise allegedly causing the Dispute being well and truly met. WELL DONE
That was before my time.
Yes the action destroyed families and resulted in thousands of Aussie Pilots migrating to the Middle East and Asia. We sadly even had many suicides.
They were replaced with foreign pilots who were called "scabs" for violating the action. This was not a good time for anyone.
Many of the pilots that left, still have yet to return to Australia.
The Union had a building in Central Melbourne worth about 10 million AUD in the 90s and that had to be sold in order to pay for all the legal fees. There were lawsuits left right and center.
On the same token there is a big population of Australian Pilots working high up in companies like Cathay, Asiana, Dragonair, Emirates, Qatar, Etihad, Gulfair and a few others who have influence and they see to it that QANTAS Pilots will never work for these companies. If you have a Union Card then its OK.
Anyway, the Union has survived a blitzkrieg and has built itself up nicely. it is on the rebound.
It is a Union that is not a member of the Trade Council or affiliated with the Labour Party. There is still a lot of bad feeling between the Pilot Union and the Labour party.
The good thing about the strike was that the entire population or workforce was in solidarity. Many interesting characters and a lot of history. they should make a movie about this.
The country was on its knees!