Menzies Aviation Obtains Interim Injunction
Following the withdrawal of labour by 36 employees at the airport on Thursday, Menzies Aviation said it has obtained an interim injunction from the Supreme Court which “restrains the employees and the BIU” from “participating in” or “influencing” anyone to take part in a “strike or irregular industrial action short of a strike.”
A statement from the company said, “We regret any inconvenience to passengers, guests and staff on Thursday of this week, caused by the illegal labour action taken by 36 employees of Menzies Aviation Bermuda Limited [Menzies Aviation].
“These employees are members of the Air Services Division of the Bermuda Industrial Union [BIU]. The BIU and Menzies are in discussions regarding renegotiation of the collective bargaining agreement.
George Scott explains the staff’s position at the airport on Thursday
“In order to avoid further illegal labour actions whilst these discussions continue, Menzies obtained an interim injunction late Friday afternoon from the Supreme Court.
“The injunction restrains the employees and the BIU from ‘inciting, commencing, participating in, encouraging, persuading or influencing any person to take part in, or otherwise act in furtherance of, a strike or irregular industrial action short of a strike, contrary to and in violation of section 9 of the Labour Relations Act 1975”.
“Importantly, the Court declared that the services offered by Menzies Aviation and performed by our employees are essential services.
“In addition, the Court ordered that if the BIU and/or members of the Air Services Division of the BIU who are employed by Menzies Aviation disobey the Order they may be held in contempt and/or imprisoned amongst other penalties available to the Court.
“Menzies is grateful for the Court’s assistance with this matter. We look forward to continuing discussions with our employees and their Union to have a productive dialogue to work through the issues raised and move forward. There are only a few issues unresolved.
“We want reassure the traveling public that we are doing everything within our power to ensure that ground services will continue to be provided without any interruption to flight schedules.”
Employers always using the court to strong arm people. If I were them I would put in a 21 day notice strike and strike on that day. The court seems to be controlling the country and in the end it talks nonsense about what Joe public thinks. While at it they should move away from juries as the court does whatever it wants. I should seek permission from the court to have sex with my motorbike and marry it.
Its quite simple NO MORE WAR. We are a country (like any other modern western developed country) that is governed by rules/laws. In this case both Menzies Aviation and their unionized employees (BIU in this case) are bound by a Collective Bargaining Agreement. Neither party gets to re-interpret that agreement (and withdraw labour accordingly) when and as they please i.e. this agreement and the Labour Relations Act 1975 are what bind both parties legally. The Menzies Aviation employees decided to withdraw their labour in contravention of the Agreement and the law. As they have the right to do, Menzies Aviation went to the Supreme Court to stop this from continuing to happen. Ignorance of the law and Collective Bargaining agreements are no excuse to behave as you please when you don’t agree with something!
Requiring people to abide by the law is not strong arming.
I am not sure that NO MORE WAR has the intellectual capacity to understand!
And this is how it’s done in the real world folks. When private enterprise takes over, they will insist that BOTH parties abide by the agreement and honour their obligations.
If government were allowed to run this, it would take them a week to get organized enough to get a court order enforcing the agreement and then they would end up surrendering everything in the hope of getting votes.
Are you serious??we all know that injuction is not worth anything..How many times has this been tried before..All it takes if for brother cris to give the word and all down tools..
Before all you OBA’ers spew ya garbage, I hope you have ya facts in order.
How many of you would have taken a $10 per hr pay cut years ago with a promise from management that it would be returned in stages
5 yrs later nothing and all staff asked for was a $2 raise.
But I guess because it doesn’t effect you directly, you ain’t concerned.
And I don’t want to hear, I haven’t had a pay increase in X amount of years.
Lots of people have not had a pay increase, myself included, but it’s another thing to have almost 1/3 of your hourly wage taken away, yet everything else in your paycheck still going up.
These workers are still human and need to make a reasonable living in order to support their families.
It’s simple: issue strike notice and comply with the law. Then you’ll get sympathy.
Or, if you don’t like the amount you are being paid, QUIT. It is your choice to be employed. There are a lot of people out here who would take that pay if offered.
Spoken from someone who has never stepped foot on that ramp other than to take his first class seat to JFK…smh
Yes, that does sound like the attitude of someone who has taken control of their life and made it so they can afford to fly first class.
Or someone who has through the lottery of birth been born into wealth.
No they won’t at all…speaking on speculation..
What is your Ph.D. in…..stupidity ?……you sound just like the rest of the ignorant fools who spew their garbage here.
Right because no bread is better than a littke bread….
The logic of the wealthy
.
Dude, you’re moving luggage around and waving planes into a parking spot. It’s not like it takes some special skill to do your job. How much should an employer pay for unskilled labour? Certainly less than a gardener makes not more as you seem to imply with your numbers.
If you don’t like the job, leave and find a job that you do like.
It’s definitely a skilled labour job. High risk as well. Severely underpaid, many are taking home less than $1k every two weeks.
Why is it “high risk”? Because you might get wet if it rains?
no because they work next too, in and under large planes. Also they work right over large fuel tanks. but yeah the rain too. idiot.
So why don’t they leave and make more?
Very ignorant comment…it is not that simple. ..skill is definitely a requirement…
Paul Revere, why would mention OBA? Menzies is not government run or owned! If I understand correctly Menzies took over the Renaissance operation. Am I correct in saying that. If years ago they were asked to take a $10 per hour cut that was a deal made with Renaissance, not Menzies? Who owned Renaissance Air and was able to get workers to take a $10ph cut without ruffling feathers back then? If you do some research you might be surprised . ssshhhhhh
Unfortunately, the people who made that promise sold their business. Did anyone get this in writing?
And if that true, that was quite the union mistake. BIG mistake.
But who were those people that owned it before. Could you imagine if ANYONE else asked the union to take a deduction? Could they possibly have had ties to the the Unions or PLP? Just Askin the question.
Welcome to the world. There are plenty of people who haven’t had increases in years. The world doesn’t owe you a living.
Says the wealthy retiree.
I got you “zevon”
Hey Paul, ride your horse to where someone actually cares what garbage you spew.
I looked it up. They took a 10% paycut. BTW WHO were the previous Bermudian owners?
Get back to work or quit the job!….there are 1000′s of people out of work that would be grateful of a job!
a lot of people would like a job but a lot of people would not like to be treated like these workers are being treated so those workers that your speaking of will probably end up on strike right next to these workers. it is messed up situation right now at the airport. you may think the workers are being greedy but until you actually in their shoes and deal with what they have to deal with please take a seat.
If you don’t like it, quit.
For some people its as easy as that because just by their skin color they have an advantage the minute they walk out the door!! THATS A FACT!! Some people are not fortunate enough to leave one job and get another within a week! Most have no choice but to work for slave pay, they still have financial responsibilities. Its a no win situation,your telling them to quit their job but in the same breath call them lazy and say they don’t want to work! Which is it??
One thing is for sure………Manzies is not the BDA Govt.
One thing is for sure………we outnumber Manzies In BDA.
Menzies or Government they both have the same #$@ucked up agenda!! Exploitation of workers and their rights.
Oddly, I arrived back on Thursday, two flights were being unloaded at the same time, and by the time I got through immigration (less than ten minutes), the luggage was already out. The place seemed a paradigm of efficiency. I’m all for a fair wage and the workers not getting squeezed but I’ll wager management knows that there is a lot of scope to reasonably require increased productivity in return.
You have a good paying job and you want to ruin your own situation and cast the blame that you cause on good people who employ you and pay you well….it must be plp behind this,!
Good paying job? You have no idea? Take a guess at what these guys make? I know the answer.
Based on the article, over $20 per hour.
That would be a negative!!! If they getting that I doubt they be complaining…
hahaha. based on the article?? where?? try $14-$16.
Nasty.
Election year ….stupid sheeples.
Whisky Tango Foxtrot. It is NOT Election Year in Bermuda – or are you talking about the USA? Wake up!
These are all comments from people who are too lazy to do labour work yet sit behind a computer all day. We all know who these comments are coming from…..its not the labour workers of this country….its the same people who hire laour workers to maintain their properties while they “sun bathe” . How many of them do you see out in the yard cutting grass or ANY labour work? I had to show European neighbors how to start a mower only to come back to find someone else mowing their lawn. I asked if they had ever mowed a lawn and the response I got was, that’s what landscapers are for….we go to college so that we don’t have to do the dirty work….and plus I don’t like to sweat! We all should switch jobs for a day so we can get a better understanding of what the other does. I guarantee you that you would have an appreciation for the labour workers of this Island!!
here we are again arguing over wages. I will never accept a pay cut period. The question is who owned this company prior to Manzies and was that agreement to repay the employees lost wages grandfathered into the buy out. either way, some jobs just will never pay enough to cover a mortgage, childcare, and adult living expenses because they are meant for single young men that stay at home with their parents. Just passing through to earn some college $$$$
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…Zevon…Family Man and Onion….four ignorant and out of touch individuals. Do you know who is responsible for you enjoying the wages and benefits you currently receive?
The very same Union and workers like those who only want to receive a decent wage!….I bet my last dollar that Menzies increased their charges for their services since their takeover.
Bermudianss this is just the beginning because wait until those Aecon friends of the OBA take over the LF Wade Airport …..no I bet they change that name too and treat you all like slaves
Why do these threads always begin reasonably enough, but invariably degenerate into slanging matches which solve absolutely nothing? If someone has accurate verifiable facts available, let’s have them publicised so that we can discuss them sensibly without having to resort to name-calling and insinuations.