Qantas Case Study, Qantas Dispute

There are three main parties to this case; Flywell Ltd (F), the parent company, Jetover Ltd (J), the subsidiary, and the Australian Pilots Association (APA) which is representing the 200 pilots currently employed by J. F incorporated J as a wholly owned subsidiary of F and appointed four directors for J from the six directors of F. Two hundred of F’s pilots were made redundant and immediately rehired by J on lower wages and entitlement previously enjoyed at F. New pilots hired by F receive 20% more pay and entitlements for the same work than pilots of J.

During the legal dispute, pickets were set up across the ports as a form of industrial action from the sacked workers in an attempt to hinder the movement of port traffic and slow down waterside productivity. Yet these were promptly removed through court injunctions. In short, the use of the mechanism of corporate restructure, in the case of Patricks, allowed them both to evade paying employee entitlements and dismissing almost its entire unionised workforce. The Waterfront Dispute was heavily debated by all parties on 60 Minutes and all the issues of unionism on the waterside and productivity were discussed. This prompted debate on whether other employers could use such tactics to their advantage.

The weakness of Qantas lies in the management and their lack of investment in their employees. The management weakness can be seen in many of the financial and operational issues. Qantas faces several Industrial disputes which the company’s competitors do not experience. These issues affect the interior structure and the external opportunities to gain new customers. This also makes this their biggest

The issues between the union and the Magic Carpet Airlines are that the airlines do not pay their flight attendants duty rig pay, there is no job security, and they weren’t able to use their sick leave when they were sick. They did not agree with the way they had to give a five day notice to swap routes with other Magic Carpet Airlines flight attendants. Their major concerns were their direct wages, they wanted to be paid more and have duty rig, and have job security. These concerns were all determined by surveys that were mailed out to each of the union members, and flight attendants voicing their concerns.

By outsourcing, Qantas is able to significantly reduce costs and maintain it’s competitive advantage. However this advantage also has a draw back, hundreds of engineers have also been cut from their jobs and have had their jobs given to people overseas. This puts a bad reputation on the name of the business as an Australian business will cut jobs from Australian workers and supple foreign workers with jobs. Families and friends of these workers may feel resentment towards Qantas and choose to travel with another airline instead resulting in a loss of customers. This strategy has been effective in reducing cost but has resulted in a reduction of quality and safety and led to a decreased business reputation resulting in a loss of customers and stakeholders.

On August 3, 1981, nearly 13,000 of the 17,500 members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) staged a walk out and strike. There were four main reasons the union members of PATCO decided to go on strike. First, to address the concerns by members who felt that their work was seriously undervalued and under-rewarded. The second reason was that the Federal Aviation Administration had neglected serious deficiencies in staffing and hardware reliability. Thirdly, their work week was unreasonably long, especially when compared to controllers overseas. The fourth reason for the strike was the FAA’s (FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION) approach to management-union relations and the

WestJet is facing an urgent problem. The pilots’ contract expires in two weeks’ time and the pilots are unhappy with the offer that has been presented. This has created conflict between management and the pilots as the pilots feel that too many things are being taken away. If a quick agreement is not reached, flights would be grounded, which would impact the bottom line and negatively affect culture. A collaborating approach will need to be applied in order to come to a swift resolution.

This strategy is quite bold and could lead the company to feel that they were not given a chance. In return MCA could have harsh feelings toward the Union and not compromise as easily. The fourth strategy was to only settle issues with unanimous consent from the negotiating committee. The union planned on every person in the committee being at every meeting and they set the rule that everyone had to agree to proceed. This is definitely not reasonable because there may be situations when a member can’t make a meeting. It is also not reasonable to say that everyone must agree. There are times when this is not possible and it should have been planned for. Maybe the union should have had a majority vote or even a 75% vote minimum.

In 1936 congress put all commercial airlines under the Railway Labor Act. Since then, there was a period of 42 years under economic regulation where the government oversaw labor relations. Since deregulation, the goals of collective bargaining have not changed much, nor have the objectives of management and labor unions. (Wensveen, 2011, p. 422)

In 1906, the liberal party, Led by Henry Campbell–Bannerman, won the general election. This was seen as a landslide victory for the liberals, who had been out of government for 17 years. The Liberal Party won 397 seats as opposed to the 156 seats won by the Conservatives. However, in terms of votes, it was closer with the Liberals winning 2,565,644 votes against 2,278,076 for the Conservatives.

The Qantas airlines was up against the transport worker union(TWU), Australian and international pilot union( AIPA) , Australian licensed engineers union (ALAEA). These unions enforce strike as they represent engineers, pilots , ground staffs and baggage handlers. The Australian licensed engineer union and the Australian and international pilot association have been in negotiation with Qantas airlines since August 2010. While the transport worker unions had been in negotiation since may 2011. However, the dispute between employees and employers occurred as it became public word that jobs were being sent offshore. The union step in ensure this would not affect employees as well as improved their current employment condition. They demanded for

Despite both parties agreeing on minor issues, there were three major issues that threatened to disrupt air travel nationwide and hit the economy hard. Those issues were pay/wages, stock options, and job security. The Allied Pilots requested an 11 percent pay increase within the first 4 years, 7.25 million shares of the company at $10 below market value, as well as demanding that all of their unionized pilots be the only pilots to fly the new 50-70 passenger aircraft, which were being purchased. However, American Airlines offered only 6.1 percent pay increase over the term of the contract, 5.75 million shares of stock at market value and only a small amount of pilots would fly the newer aircrafts, leaving close to 67 new planes to be flown by regional pilots who’s pay was $80,000 less then, unionized pilots, whose salary was $120,000 or more. Because neither party agreed to the terms laid before them, a request for mediation was issued by the union to the National Mediation Board on January 16, 1996, to which mediation began on February

promote an improvement in workplace relations in the Australian building and construction industry. This may include taking court action to enforce laws. The main role of Australian trade unions is to resolve workplace issues by acting on an employee’s behalf as well assisting in bargaining negotiations for employees (Nicholson, Pekarek & Gahan, 2017, p. 309). The role of employers is to provide a safe workplace that is free from industrial hazards and is not injurious to health. Employers should also allow employees to join a union. The role of all employees is to report any incidents that indicate violations to their health. They also have the right to refuse to work where there are reasonable grounds to believe that there will be a risk of serious injury or harm to their health (Sheldon & Thornthwaite, 2015, p. 385). The outcome employees are clearly focused on is having a safe and injury-free experience in their workplace.

However, there were gains in the same year as three-year contentious negotiations between ULCC Allegiant Air and its pilots ended in mid-2016, with the pilots getting hefty pay rises and the airline’s safety record consequently improving (Bhaskara, 2016). United Airlines also reached agreements with its pilots and flight attendants, with the flight attendants getting a combined contract after six years of being

Collective bargaining is the process by which conditions of employment are negotiated between management, and the labor organization representing employees in the bargaining unit. However, “collective bargaining refers to a situation in which union members and officials meet with an intent to resolve any issues or conflicts, in an attempt to maintain relationships” (Holley, Jennings, & Wolters, 2012, p. 243). The collective bargaining process relies on four aspects: recognition of the meeting, meeting with appropriate parties, bargaining in good faith, and incorporating the reached agreement (Adam, 1997). Nevertheless, collective bargaining activities are governed by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRA requires bargaining