The Australian Pilots Dispute in 1989

This article explores the Australian Pilots Dispute in 1989, discussing the reasons behind the dispute and its impact on the airline industry and economy. It highlights the issues of long working hours, low wages, and managerial control that led to the strike. The article also examines the consequences of the dispute, including job losses, disruptions in domestic air travel, and the use of military pilots as replacements. The role of different stakeholders, such as the pilots' union, the government, and the employers, is also discussed.

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The Australian Pilots Dispute in 1989
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The Australian Pilots Dispute in 1989
Disputes occur when two or more people are at loggerheads with each other. The
main reason is that they do not agree with a particular situation that is transpiring. Differences
are a common thing, and they form an integral part of our world (Ronfeldt,2011). As defined
by (Winter,2017). Disputes are disagreements that arise from the presence of two or more
different schools of thoughts in an official setting. Disputes can occur in different places,
including the workplace, at home, or even just on the road, which is mainly caused by the
diverse nature that human being has. Australia witnessed one such dispute. Surprisingly,
there has been minimal attempts to explicitly scrutinize the origin and the effects of the
dispute in the specific context of the domestic airline industry. It was when pilots took to
protest the long working hours that they were putting in, with an unproportional low wages
and the managerial control and the pilot's productivity were the underlying issues of the
disputes as well.
The 1989 Pilots strike was one great example of a dispute, which was one of the most
expensive and dramatic differences in Australian history; the strike had devastating effects.
The dispute which was led by the Australian Federation of air pilots came up after a long
period of disagreement mainly best on wage suppression. The dispute took effect and was
more prominently felt on 18th August 1989 (Lasslett, 2012). By this time pilots only worked
from 9 to 5. this was a massive blow to the economy of Australia since the country relies on
both imports and exports which were being delivered by air. this was later preceded by the
mass resignation of pilots. This prompted the government to cancel the pilot's award and to
de-recognized their Union. Further, the dispute was estimated to have costed the Australian
government over a billion dollars and resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs associated with
the demise of businesses. Despite the pay rise nearly 80% of the pilots did not get their jobs

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back. The dispute considerably interrupted domestic air travels and hurt the tourism industry
and other businesses.
The Australian Federation of air pilots had the school of thought that pilots, just like
any other workers, deserved to be treated equally. By this, the Union meant that pilots should
be given a specific number of working hours that is most preferably from 9 to 5. This is a
good argument because every individual deserves equal treatment from their employers and
the government (Blackham,2018)The strike started by pilots only reporting to work for their
specific timeframes and letter got to the point that pilots resigned from office. This was quite
strange given that the country much dependent on these pilots to transport goods or people,
including tourists from one destination to another in and out of Australia. With this growing
dispute, the Australian labor minister declared this as a national disaster and called upon the
services of The Royal Australian Air Force planes and pilots to fill in to avoid even further
losses. This made the employers seek alternative sources for employment and thus,
employers into getting pilots from overseas (Field & Lynch,2014).
The dispute was directly affected by the external business environment. The reason
for this is that the pilots, just like other workers, demanded better working conditions. These
pilots felt that all other workers in other different sectors hard flexible working hours and
working conditions unlike theirs. This meant that others had more time to be with their
families and friends while pilots spent most of the time at work. This is understandable as
every individual would like to spend as much time as possible with their loved ones.
As the dispute prolonged, it was also realized that the use of pilots from overseas
slowed down the country's economy as it made many people jobless. This created a dent in
the economy of the country for some period as many people were rendered jobless. As much

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as the government acted in the interest of the general public, it caused havoc to citizen pilots
who are practicing. This directly impacted the Air travel industry.
Different stakeholders had different interpretations of exactly what happened. These
stakeholders included the employees themselves, the government, travelers, and the Citizens
of the country (Markham & Higham, 2018). As much as the employees were within their
rights to champion for fair working conditions, they got affected because many of them were
laid off. This would mean that their families would have to lower their living standards. With
a lack of income, these pilots and their families would struggle to make ends meet. On the
other hand, the airlines which were their employers suffered greatly as they had to reschedule
flights and even cancel some. This would result in lower revenues gotten from travels. During
a period like this employers always have to look for alternative methods of handling the
situation. in this case the employer opted to recruit from overseas, which was a very bold
move in that most of the public would significantly oppose these as it would lead to
joblessness for the Citizens. In this case, the goals of the employees were not fully met
(Doughty, 2009).
The Union, which was also a significant shareholder in this, had its consequences. An
excellent example of this is the fact that the Union was disbanded. This was a setback to the
whole governance of the Union as the committee members were only trying to get their rights
to come out and defend the rights of the very same employees (Hunter,& Hancock,2016).
However, that leads to severe consequences which meant that some of the employees would
get fired, this in addition to the unions disbanding meant that the union would no longer be in
a position to influence the decisions that are placed against its members. In the sense of
democracy, this is unfair as every employee deserves the right to join a union which is
independent and able to successfully champion for their rights. This name that the employees
don't have any form of protection after that. However, The Union was able to represent its

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people and air out their grievances, therefore, making this track to be one of the significant
workers strikes that have occurred in Australia (Cahill,& Humphrys,2019).
The state and the Federal Government also felt the harsh consequences of this strike.
The reason for this is that all the revenues that were being collected from the airline industry
hard to reduce due to the reduced number of working hours by the workers. This prompted
the government to use military pilots to Ferry people and goods from one point to another.
This is dangerous because the specific pilots are not well equipped or trained to handle this
type of airplanes. In addition to that, the state and Federal Government had to disband the
Union, which was championing for the rights of Citizens, which is against the law
(Humphrys,2018). This would have led to so much criticism of the government not upholding
its stated rules and laws (Spencer & Hardy, 2014).
The government did succeed in its aim to reduce the impact of the strike on the
economy of the country as well. However, many critics can be raised for this as the
government caused a lot of people to lose their sources of income. The government, through
The industrial Relations commission, were angered by the insistence of the pilots union to
have negotiations directly with their employers. One that is free from any outside
interference. This is what led to the disbursement of the pilots union as the industrial Relation
commission sided with the government after its exclusion (Sheldon,2011).
The strike stayed effective until the year 1989 on 27th October when the government
came up with a return to work contract that was on a pre-dispute basis. The reason as to why
the government had to act swiftly was that the Christmas period was first approaching and
there would be increased numbers of travel. The lack of adequate transportation during that
period would mean that there would be massive losses for the airlines and the state
government. This is because they much depend on the returns that are obtained from tourism
during that period of the year (Lawbook, 2010). On this return to work plan, the government

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was to create an environment for negotiations to be taken between the employers and
employees without interference or threat of Industrial Action. As much as these negotiations
were put in place, the 1300 pilots who were declared jobless, remained jobless with most of
them seeking some sort of employment in other countries. The remaining pilots were forced
to find employment in the local domestic airlines which needed skilled manpower (Murray &
May 2018).
This dispute lasted for just a few months. However, the effects were much felt. The
impact could be handled by the employer, employees, and even the state government because
it is a critical sector in the economy of any given country. In my opinion, this dispute was
never hungry as well. The reason for this is that the government had to use unorthodox
method to disband a union, therefore, leaving thousands of individuals jobless. This meant
that their families living standard would be reduced. This was evident by the massive number
of pilots who went to other countries to seek alternative employment (Ronfeldt, 2011). The
act of the government here was unorderly. Do anti-labor practices shocked most of the world
as it is against the Democratic rule that the state of Australia highly values. With the
government opting for the use of military pilots to fly commercial planes at the expense of
the well-experienced pilots who had to be jobless was a hard decision which significantly
impacted the lives of thousands of individuals across the whole country. And this was one of
the hardest decisions that the government of Australia had to make, maybe even only second
to the Vietnam War (Bagshaw, 2009).
In conclusion, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the other affiliated unions
stood back and did nothing during the bosses attack freedom of the association. The
Australian Labor Party and other radical parties were also absent. The whole dispute was not
solved well because it took too much time for the government to make critical decisions
which were directly impacting the economy of the country. In addition to that, the

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conclusions that the government reached were fairly fashionable as even after the
negotiations, the 1300 pilots remain jobless (Dallas,2019). As much as the government
wanted to act in the interest of the general country's economy, it disrupted the rule of law as it
went against the labor practices buy this burning and employees Union.

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