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Issue No. 169 | 07 March 2003 |
Re-considering The Accord
Poetry: If I Were a Rich Man Interview: League of Nations Industrial: 20/20 Hindsight Organising: On The Buses Unions: National Focus History: The Banner Room International: The Slaughter Continues Legal: A Legal Case For War? Culture: Singing For The People Review: The Hours Poetry: I Wanna Bomb Saddam Satire: Diuretic Makes Warne's Excuses Look Thin
Sacre Bleu � It�s �La Gong� Now Executive Pay Under Senate Spotlight Zoo Workers Buck �Mercy Killing� Canberra Firefighters Win Union Backing Aussie Workers Fight Indian Child Labour
The Soapbox The Locker Room Guest Report Seduction Bosswatch
Strangers in the House Nursing Home Concerns Catholic Tastes
Labor Council of NSW |
Tool Shed Flying Rat
*************** Geoff Dixon likes to adopt the persona of the workers' friend, a lover of a beer and a laugh, a knock-about battler despite his millions. When shooting the breeze with union leaders, he always likes to play up the fact he's a card-carrying member of the ALP. But there's nothing comradely about the way he's been treating Qantas's public face, the long-haul flight attendants, in recent times. It all started in late 2001 when the aviation industry was picking up the pieces from September 11, unsure of whether anyone could ever suspend their disbelief again and enter a commercial aircraft. The flight attendants' agreement was up and Dixon cried poor, asking them to cop a pay freeze until the landscape were clearer. They also agreed to cut back the number of crew on some flights, again with the promise that these would be 'recognised' in the next agreement. Fast forward 12 months and the flight attendants sit down to nut out a new deal. Qantas has survived the S11 downturn and, indeed, thrived, gobbling up Australian travellers with Ansett in the grave, eyeing off Air New Zealand for take over and racking up the sort of profits that sees Dixon rewarded with $1 million in shares. Using the same logic, flight attendants believed it was time to spread some of the booty and table their claim for seven per cent. But the tune had changed; according to Dixon the crisis has returned and there's no money for a wage rise. As for the commitment to recognise the lower crews, all bets are off. They may be a well-groomed bunch, but this position sent cabin crew understandably feral and they called stop work meetings around the nation to air their grievances. And what did the workers' friend do in the face of collective action? Call in the scabs, of course. In a move reminiscent of the infamous Dubai waterfront exercise, Dixon shipped in inexperienced contract labour, with just weekend training, to keep his fleet in the air. For a group who had built professional pride around their status as safety and security professionals it was the ultimate low blow. Here was Qantas saying that their work was so complex that any mug could be trained to do it in a couple of hours. All of which fuelled the anger that saw a record turnout at the stop-work meetings and the prospect of more to come. At the Sydney stop work, Labor Council secretary John Robertson laid into Dixon, branding him a rat in a memorable grab that ended up on the evening news. Word is that Dixon was not too pleased with the analogy and made some phone calls to convey that point. All we can say is that if it smells like a rat and acts like a rat it tends to have whiskers. And 'Stinky', the CFMEU's inflatable rodent, is on standby, ready to change his name by deed poll.
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