Having A "Strike" In The Family Is Not Good ~ by PGA

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I've learnt that...
it is very important for The Family to be united 
in LOVE, even in times of conflict so that outside 
forces will not take advantage of this situation.
~ 49 years old

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Having A "Strike" In The Family Is Not Good ~ by PGA
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This appeared in the front page of today's Australian Newspaper (see below).

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I find this article interesting in relation to a pet topic of mine... The Family.

When this family (Qantas Airlines) has a problem... outsiders (Other Airlines) may take advantage of this situation and benefit from it. Qantas is losing lots of money in this strike. Now... it is possible for the other Airlines to come in to meet the needs of the stranded passengers and make that exact money that Qantas is losing.

The Family has to stay united even in times of conflict and dialog with lots of LOVE to reach a consensus of mutual benefit without letting any outsider come in and take control.

For example... A child is in dispute with his parents and is "on strike" by not being on talking terms with his parents. The School has an agenda to sack this child because they find him a big trouble-maker in school. When the child fails an exam, the school takes this opportunity to sack the child. Parents are distracted and finds out late that there's a useful loop-hole to keep the child in school by going to MOE (Ministry Of Education) who has the child's best interest at heart. On finding out this useful loop-hole, the parents tries to speak to the child that it is possible to remain in school... but the parent-child relationship now has a wall that makes communication impossible. Outside forces (the School) has triumphed and able to achieve their objective of getting rid of the child... the family has lost by not being united even while in conflict.

I've learnt that... it is very important for The Family to be united in LOVE, even in times of conflict so that outside forces will not take advantage of this situation.

Here's the full news article below...

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News Article:

31 Oct 2011

The Australian

by STEVE CREEDY & EWIN HANNAN

Cost of Qantas crisis hits $250m a day and rising

TENS OF THOUSANDS STRANDED GOVERNMENT TURNS ON AIRLINE

'I believe it is well within the capacity for people to resolve this dispute without Qantas locking out its customers' BILL SHORTEN ASSISTANT TREASURER

TENS OF thousands of passengers remained stranded across Australia and the world last night as the bitter dispute between Qantas and its unions dragged on at a cost to the national economy of more than $250 million a day. Last night, 108 planes were parked in ports around the world, more than 24 hours after the airline ordered the grounding of its entire global fleet. Almost 70,000 passengers have been affected so far by the cancellation of 447 Qantas flights. Qantas said last night the earliest its planes could return to the skies would be midday today. 

A marathon hearing before Fair Work Australia stretched late into last night, with government lawyers warning that the drawnout proceedings were increasing the damage to the economy. The federal government estimated the daily cost to the tourism industry at $256m in the consumption of goods and services, and $93m a day in gross domestic product. 

Tourism and Transport Forum boss John Lee warned of the damage the no-fly edict would have on tomorrow's Melbourne Cup. ''There are no winners in this — we need Qantas to fly,'' he said. 

Qantas forced the government to make an emergency application to Fair Work Australia on Saturday night after its extraordinary announcement that it would ground its international and domestic fleet ahead of a move to lock out workers from three unions from 8pm today. The decision did not affect lowcost subsidiary Jetstar or regional carrier Qantaslink. Qantas last night directly warned Fair Work Australia that it could keep its fleet grounded unless the tribunal terminated the bargaining period with unions. 

As the tribunal hearing entered it's ninth hour, Qantas used its final submission to reiterate its opposition to the union bid to have the bargaining period suspended rather than terminated. The decision caused a political brawl as Tony Abbott accused Julia Gillard of falling asleep at the wheel and taking too long to act on the dispute. Speaking in Perth as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting wrapped up, the Prime Minister defended her actions and argued that it offered the best solution to provide a lasting resolution to the dispute and return air services to normal. ''We took this action when the dispute escalated,'' she said. ''We did it because we were concerned about damage to the national economy . . . I believe Australians want to see this dispute settled.'' 

But the Opposition Leader accused Ms Gillard of a failure of leadership, insisting she should have used her legislative powers to order unions back to work rather than leaving the issue at the discretion of Fair Work Australia. Warning the dispute was damaging the economy, Mr Abbott said: ''The government has the powers in the existing act to resolve this dispute. The Prime Minister should use them, and she should get the planes back in the skies safely as soon as possible.'' 

Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten muscled up to Qantas outside the Fair Work Australia hearing in Melbourne, describing the carrier's actions as over the top. ''The government doesn't want to play the blame game, but wants to see the dispute between Qantas and the unions resolved,'' said Mr Shorten, a former Australian Workers Union national secretary who was prominent during the 2006 Beaconsfield mine disaster. ''I certainly believe it is well within the capacity for people to resolve this dispute without Qantas locking out its customers. ''We think that if any party had taken this sort of strike action against the customers of this scale and this dimension, we think that's over the top.'' Since taking on the junior Treasury role, Mr Shorten has worked on building his links with business. 

Qantas last night told Fair Work Australia it would not concede to the union claims and suspension would allow unions to continue to undermine the airline. It said there was a ''real and serious prospect'' the airline would not resume flying if the tribunal only granted a suspension. In its final submission, the Gillard government backed termination, a position immediately opposed by the ACTU. The government said termination would be a circuit-breaker to the dispute, as suspension could lead to another lockout by Qantas. Unions are seeking an order that suspends industrial action for 90 and 120 days. They said Qantas was attempting to remove the unions' bargaining power by pushing for a ban on industrial action. The tribunal's full bench is hearing union submissions and is then expected to adjourn to consider its verdict. The timing of a decision remains unclear. Unions yesterday pointed out documents tabled at Saturday's hearing that showed Qantas management discussed locking out its workforce and grounding its fleet before October 20. A confidential risk assessment prepared for Qantas operations chief Lyell Strambi set out risks resulting from ''extreme industrial action scenarios'', including those associated with the company locking out employees and immediately grounding the fleet. The document, prepared by the head of Qantas Airlines Safety, Susan D'ath Weston, analyses three recovery scenarios, and concludes that a return to flying while under binding arbitration is the best option available. The favoured option set out in the document was followed by Qantas, prompting union claims the lockout was premeditated. 

Union lawyers spent part of the hearing cross-examining Qantas management about the strategy leading up to the lockout, including when the airline decided to embark on the action. At the hearing, the government urged the unions and the company to focus on the issue of whether the bargaining period should be terminated or suspended. After six hours of hearings, the government told the tribunal last night its preferred course would be for the bargaining period to be terminated, a position consistent with Qantas management's. It said if the tribunal elected not to terminate the bargaining period, industrial action should be suspended for no less than 120 days. The commonwealth position was backed by Queensland, NSW and Victoria but opposed by unions, who urged a suspension. ACTU assistant secretary Tim Lyons told the full bench the government's position should be rejected and the most sensible outcome would be to suspend action for between 90 and 120 days. Qantas wants unions prevented from taking any further industrial action, claiming suspension will not return certainty and confidence. Unions oppose termination of the bargaining period and instead want industrial action suspended for 120 days. Under the union plan, Qantas and the unions would report back to the tribunal after four weeks of negotiations. If there was no prospect of resolution at that time, the unions said it would be open to the government to apply to terminate or further suspend the action. 

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce agreed yesterday that the airline had been planning for a potential lockout for several weeks but insisted a decision on the issue was not made until Saturday morning. Mr Joyce said the airline had decided to ground the airline on Saturday after a risk assessment raised potential safety problems such as pilots getting distracted. He cited worries about leaks and their impact on safety for the short notice given to the government. Mr Joyce again defended the move as a response to union threats to escalate action and continue long-term campaigns despite overwhelming support for management in voting in last week's annual meeting. ''The long process of a death by 1000 cuts — the slow bake as (union official) Steve Purvinas called it — would have killed morale, it would have killed jobs, it would have killed our customer loyalty,'' Mr Joyce said yesterday. ''It would have caused more disruptions to the customers and at the end of the day that wasn't a viable option.'' 

But unions accused airline management of a bizarre overreaction and failing to tell shareholders about the plans. Australian and International Pilots Association vice-president Richard Woodward disputed the claims that reaction to the lockout would raise safety issues. Captain Woodward said Qantas sent messages to aircraft that were still airborne saying they would be grounded on arrival. ''I've tried to make the point to the media that the pilots are professionals and that safety above all else is their first priority and they're not likely to do anything stupid,'' he said. Other airlines moved yesterday to step into the gap left by Qantas with special fares and by putting on extra capacity. Virgin Australia and partner Etihad Airways reached a deal to allow the Australian carrier to use an Etihad Airbus A340 and crew between Melbourne and Sydney for several days next week. 

Virgin was also working on plans to use a Singapore Airlines aircraft on key domestic routes and for Air New Zealand to take up Virgin trans-tasman routes in order to release Australian Boeing 737s for domestic use. Virgin said it had already carried more than 20,000 Qantas passengers on special discounted fares available to Qantas passengers over the next four days. Chief executive John Borghetti said the airline operated close to 100 per cent full yesterday, with punctuality in the mid-90 per cent range. He said the airline still had about 60,000 seats available for passengers this week.

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Qantas spokeswoman discusses strikes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdq8V3B-85w

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