Qantas Dispute

Qantas dispute heads to supreme authority, more pain contingent Kelly Burke, Matthew OSullivan, Jessica Wright November 22, 2011 pic Alan Joyce the winners step to the fore of this be our customers. Photo Dallas Kilponen THE Qantas dispute leave alone drag into contiguous year and thither is a threat of further legal work on, with negotiations surrounded by the three matings and the air passage collapsing within hours of the mandated deadline.Despite a push by the Transport be giveners Union to extend the 21-day negotiation period, yesterday afternoon airline management walked away from talks with its ground crew, including baggage happenlers and catering staff, little than an hour after doing the same with its enormous-haul pilots. Late in the afternoon, Qantas and the third union locked in dispute, the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, gybed to call it quits and hand the remaining unresolved issues the use of contractors and hiring staff from outsi de Australia over to the industrial relations umpire.The process of binding arbitration under sightly cultivate Australia is expected to ride months as the umpire gathers evidence and calls for expert witnesses and compose submissions. Although un standardisedly, disruptions to the holiday ends of thousands of Qantas passengers prat non be ruled out, with the TWU to decide on Thursday whether it impart mount a legal challenge to Fair Works order on October 31 to confinesinate industrial action. The union has give tongue to it will look a stay if it decides to challenge, which would free its members to resume work stoppages over the Christmas and bracing Year period.The pilots union has already begun legal action against Fair Works termination with the first directions hearing in the Federal Court set devour for December 1. But industrial law experts are skeptical closely the likely success of the TWU and pilots legal challenges. Emeritus Professor Ron McCallum, from the Sydney Law School, said it was highly unlikely the Federal Court would grant the TWU a stay, which would allow its members to take legal strike action. The unions case would have to successfully bespeak that Fair Work acted contrary to the law, that they misconstrued their powers and that will be actually hard to do, he said. The Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, said there was a lack of straightforwardwill and heed from all sides and the governments position on union moves to take legal action was iron clad. We dont support multitude taking legal action. We have an umpire and the umpire should be allowed to make their decision. Were confident the courts would uphold that, he said.The employment Relations Minister, Chris Evans, warned that further industrial action by any troupe would be unlawful. The federal secretary of the TWU, Tony Sheldon, said Qantas had decided to drag its employees by dint of the courts rather than agree to an extension of the conciliation p eriod, where the issue of job security, including the come in of contractors Qantas cute to use, were the sticking points. Qantas has not displayed trade good organized religion in these negotiations. The TWU wanted a sprint to the finish tho Qantas just hopped on the treadmill.It looked like they were moving but they werent going anywhere. The vice-president of the Australian and International Pilots Association, Richard Woodward, said negotiations had cease after the two sides failed to agree over the terms for efficiency gains of up to 20 per cent in areas such as pilot rostering. circumspection obviously believes that a decision achieved through arbitration is preferable, he said. It is a pity that Qantas as an airline will have to be subjected to this long, lengthy process when a negotiated outcome was possible. Qantass chief executive, Alan Joyce, conceded that binding arbitration could take months but said it would eventually lead to treatys that could last as long as four years. He dismissed claims from the pilots union that Qantas never think to reach an engagement during the 21 days. Passengers can now travel with confidence. The winners out of this are our customers. The winners out of this are employees and our shareholders. They have certainty, he said. http//www. smh. com. au/ origin concern/qantas-dispute-heads-to-umpire-more-pain-possible-20111122-1nrgj. tml Overview This article is a well-publicized national dispute between Qantas and its employees close pay, job security, and working conditions. The Qantas employees involved in this dispute are pilots, baggage handlers, engineers and the catering department. Analysis This industrial dispute between Qantas and its employees has been force on for quite some time now, and I would have to agree with some of the comments made in the article by the Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, when he said, there was a lack of goodwill and respect from all sides.I agree with those comments m ade by the Transport Minister, because there appears to have been very minimal advance made during the dicker process, prior to Fair Work Australias (FWA) intervention. Now that the dispute is going to arbitration it will be extremely interesting to see how the term bargaining in good faith will be justified and measured. I believe the term bargaining in good faith to be quite unresolved to dis bargain, and it will be rather difficult to prove that any peculiar(a) party was not acting in good faith. On the FWA website there is a description for good faith bargaining which explains that the good faith bargaining requirements that a bargaining representative for a proposed enterprise agreement must meet attending, and participating in, meetings at reasonable times disclosing relevant information (other than confidential or commercially sensitive information) in a timely manner responding to proposals made by other bargaining representatives for the agreement in a timely manner giving genuine considerateness to the proposals of other bargaining representatives for the agreement, and giving reasons for the bargaining representatives responses to those proposals refraining from capricious or cheating(prenominal) conduct that undermines freedom of association or collective bargaining recognising and bargaining with the other bargaining representatives for the agreement. The good faith bargaining requirements do not require a bargaining representative to make concessions during bargaining for the agreement reach agreement on the terms that are to be include in the agreement. (http//www. fwa. gov. au/index. cfm? pagename=agreementsdeterminationsgood) I believe that globalization may have played a part in the lack of good faith bargaining in this EBA dispute, because the major sticking point in this dispute is job security for the employees, and Qantas cant guarantee this whilst prosecute its organizational strategic objectives.Part of Qantass long-term s trategic plan is to increasingly use contractual part time employees within Australia, as well as establishing some offshore workforces to fulfill roles such as engineering. Therefore, I think that Qantas had always intended to eventually use FWA to deputise and assist in settling this dispute. I can completely empathize with the employees desires to ensure job security into the future, but I can also understand the strategic organizational needs of Qantas management. Some people would argue that globalization is just a convenient management explain for cost cutting, but there are definitely global pressures in todays economic environment that make issues such as this extremely delicate to strike a balance. Left-wing critics, however argue that the demon of globalization is just a convenient management alibi for cost-cutting and anti-union behavior designed to decollectivize the workplace and promote market forces. The real problems for Australias competitiveness, according to s uch critics, are not in unproductive workplaces, but in the boardrooms of banks, large corporations and other centers of financial power. (Stone. R pg. 541, 2008) polish It is hard to know whether there was good faith bargaining displayed from some(prenominal) Qantas management and the unions during these negotiations, and that is some thing that the FWA tribunal will decide on.However, I do believe that if there were more consultation, honesty and eventually arrogance built between both parties, there would have been more progress made before the FWA intervention. I would have also recommended that both parties bulge out these negotiations by deciding which issues that they agree on going forward, and then depress trying to negotiate the more difficult issues. By doing this both parties will slowly build some small amounts of trust, which helps to facilitate more consultation. References allow Stone. J Raymond -Human Resource Management 6th Edition, 2008. John Wiley & Sons A ustralia, Ltd. Milton, QLD 4064 Online http//www. smh. com. au/business/qantas-dispute-heads-to-umpire-more-pain-possible-20111122-1nrgj. html http//www. fwa. gov. au/index. cfm? pagename=agreementsdeterminationsgood