1989 Australian pilots' strike

The 1989 Australian pilots' dispute was one of the most expensive and dramatic industrial disputes in Australia's history. It was co-ordinated by the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) after a prolonged period of wage suppression, to support its campaign for a large pay increase (which it quantified at 29.47%, though such claims usually form a starting position for negotiations).

The so-called 'strike' (although it never actually was a genuine strike) began on 18 August 1989. As part of this campaign, AFAP pilots imposed on their employers (Ansett Australia, East-West, Ipec and Australian Airlines) a limitation on the hours they were prepared to work, arguing that if they were to be treated in exactly the same way as other employee groups (the stance adopted by the Government), their work conditions should also be the same. This initially took the form of making themselves available for flying duties only within the normal office working hours of 9am to 5pm.

The dispute severely disrupted domestic air travel in Australia and had a major detrimental impact on the tourism industry. The Royal Australian Air Force provided some limited domestic air services at the time to ease the impact of the strike. The dispute was superficially resolved after the mass resignation of a significant number of domestic airline pilots to avoid litigation from the employers. The employers obtained significant support from the Labor government and 'successfully' recruited new pilots from overseas.

The severity of the attack on the pilots has had a lasting effect on the organised labour movement and shocked even conservative groups, as the following extract from the H.R. Nicholls society illustrates:

In that dispute, we saw a Prime Minister actively facilitating:

Use of 'the troops' (RAAF) to help defeat the walkout by a key body of airline employees;

The bringing of common law actions for breach of contract against individual pilots to the same end;

Use of Sections 45D and 45E of the Trade Practices Act for the same purpose;

The import of foreign pilots to take the place of Australian pilots who had withdrawn their labour;

The import of charter aircraft (and associated foreign crews) to supply services being withheld by the Australian pilots; and even

The provision of some kind of financial assistance designed to assist a major employer (Ansett Airlines) and thus help 'keep it in the field' until the Australian Federation of Air Pilots had been crushed.

Mr Hawke's zeal in all these matters thus went even further than our own. The H.R. Nicholls Society had never argued that a body of employees should not have the right to be represented by a union (or Association) of their own free choosing, a basic right which Mr Hawke and Sir Peter Abels were determined to deny to the pilots. [ [http://www.hrnicholls.com.au/nicholls/nichvo27/stone2006.html H.R. Nicholls Society 2006: John Stone: The Origins and Influence of the HR Nicholls Society ] ]

Ansett, Australian Airlines, East-West and Ipec no longer exist. East-West was a subsidiary of Ansett in 1989, and absorbed fully in 1993. Ansett itself failed financially in 2001. Australian Airlines was merged with Qantas in 1992. Ipec was acquired by Toll Holdings in 1998.

References

* [http://www.vision.net.au/~apaterson/aviation/pd89_document.htm An account written by an ex-pilot who was involved in the dispute]
* [http://www.takver.com/history/pilotsdispute1989.htm An anarchist's analysis]
* [http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/cib/1997-98/98cib03.htm#THE An Australian Parliamentary Library discussion paper]