It pays to be united

The United Services Union, whose Customer Service Agent members are caught up in this dispute, employed in such duties as Check-in Officers, Service Desk Officers, Ticket Sales Officers, Passenger Control Unit Officers, Baggage Officers (lost and oversized luggage) and Chairman, Business and Qantas Club Officers, is appalled at the unnecessary actions of Qantas in suspending operations without warning.

"USU staff are on the ground at the airport supporting our members who are at the forefront of this dispute. Officials Clare Raffan, Ben Thompson and Paul Reid have been at the Sydney Domestic Terminal since the news broke late on Saturday afternoon and they were back there as early as 7.30am Sunday speaking to members providing support and advice at this trying time. Qantas Management has a monopoly on flights coming in and out of our country and they alone have pushed this button and should be held accountable for this disruption to the lives of many people who fly Qantas."

This behavior defies common sense and has left thousands of commuters and its workforce in a state of limbo, with no clear end in sight.
 
While the taking of industrial action by workers had caused some disruption, at least commuters had several days of prior notice to consider alternate arrangements.
 
The actions of Qantas Management have done more to damage the airline's reputation with commuters and the public world-wide than anything that Qantas has attributed to the Unions.
 
It appears that fresh from receiving massive pay rises for some senior managers in Qantas that this has encouraged Qantas management into taking the most extreme form of industrial terrorism and bastardry seen in almost 100 years in Australia, since the shearers and miners strikes and lockouts led to the (then) Government introducing compulsory arbitration to resolve issues before they degenerated into all-out industrial hostilities.
 
Our Forefathers were right then to introduce such legislation which could prevent situations such as this from degenerating into this travesty which, like the shearers and miners strikes and lock-outs of the late 1800's, led to a sensible and pragmatic approach in legislating compulsory arbitration that requires the parties to provide reasons and evidence for their respective claims to allow the Industrial relations commission to hear from the parties and to impose a binding legal outcome.
 
It was the large employer organisations that lobbied and campaigned the Howard Government to remove compulsory arbitration and to introduce dispute resolution procedures based upon strikes and lockouts.
 
These strikes were only to occur following the required legal ballots and following correct notification and application to conduct strike ballots.
 
Now employers such as Qantas answer directly to their shareholders for their industrial instructions and not to a compulsory arbitration commission.
 
This current lockout and the strikes which preceded it are clear proof of the failure of the decision by the Howard Government to remove a proven and successful dispute resolution mechanism such as AIRC and compulsory arbitration.
 
IT IS TIME for the current Government to intervene and to get Qantas operating again to relieve the anxiety of commuters and workers.
 
The USU is calling for the Federal Government to intervene to resolve the current lockout and to further legislate to ensure that all workers and employers have guaranteed quick and ready access to compulsory dispute resolution mechanisms including compulsory arbitration which can impose legally binding outcomes on both employers and their employees to avoid situations like the protracted industrial battle that exists between Qantas and its workforce.
 
IT IS TIME!
 
Acting General Secretary United Services Union Mr Stephen Hughes.