The legislation relied upon by QANTAS was designed by Julia Gillard so that, in the event a strike by workers was dramatically affecting the national economy, Fair Work Australia could call an end to the strike and order the workers back to work while they negotiated a settlement. As it was prior to the weekend, QANTAS employees were only sporadically on strike, wearing red ties and sometimes wearing their hats backwards, and this was not enough to argue that the national economy was being affected to any great degree. The Unions' sneaky lawyers thought they were pretty smart...
SUDDENLY, QANTAS THEMSELVES created the necessary dramatic danger to the national economy by grounding its fleet without any warning to the public, leaving tens of thousands stranded across the world! Their lawyers, who are apparently far, far sneakier than their Union Lawyer opponents, then supported the government's predictable application to "terminate" the industrial action, thereby forcing themselves to fly again! Of course, since all action was "terminated", this also means any industrial action by the workers will be illegal. Even wearing their hats backwards...
So in the end, QANTAS have forced the workers into complete obediency and subservience by arguing there was a massive threat to the national economy - a threat created entirely by themselves! Genius!
If Court Dude was not an uber-advocate of the criminal law jurisdiction, and was instead a commercial lawyer (God forbid!), he would have argued that QANTAS cannot take advantage of the legislation by intentionally creating the dramatic situation that triggers it. The fact that QANTAS' lawyers did what they did means that the law itself is flawed; their lawyers were good enough to exploit that fact and that the government unwittingly provided the authority and legality for the whole sordid show.
Having said all that, when you buy an airline ticket and take your family (for example) to the other side of the world, you place a lot of trust in that airline. You trust that they will honour their agreement with you. You trust that they will get you home. You trust that they will not leave you stranded.
QANTAS' Court Dudes are clearly smarter than the Union's Court Dudes - but what QANTAS has done to their passengers is simply unforgivable. QANTAS can never be trusted again. Come to think of it, QANTAS are sooooo sneaky that it would hardly be surprising if this, too, was part of their evil plan!
QANTAS is either our National Carrier, or it isn't. If it is, then the majority of jobs should remain in Australia, and if this isn't profitable, government ownership (at least in part) is needed. If QANTAS is not going to be our National Carrier, then it really doesn't matter WHO flys the planes!
It's a good thing Court Dude can fly without a plane - and he NEVER goes on strike!
No comments:
Post a Comment