Troubled Xmas for SANTAS

Update: Monday 21 November 2011:
November 21 - SANTAS & ToyWorkers Union unable to come to agreement by deadline - ToyWorkers Tribunal to step in

Original Story: 5 November 2011
The Toy Workers Union, Elf Unions & SANTAS will have an uneasy truce for the next 21 days after several hearings this week of the Fair Toyworkers Tribunal. Here is a timeline of how the Toy Workers dispute came to a head last week with the grounding of SANTAS Sleighs and Reindeer.

• November 4 2010 - SANTAS Sleigh Ride from Singapore to Sydney returns after one of the reindeer spontaneously com-busts - safely lands with 3 reindeer but sleigh is a mess and grounded for several months. Investigations seem to point the finger at 'ReinRoyce' - possibility their cloned reindeer  have an imperfection.
• March 22 - Toy Workers' Union (TWU) says 9000 Elves are ready to strike for a four per cent pay increase. SANTAS says it will not negotiate new agreement until July.
• March 30 -  SANTAS announces indeterminate job cuts as a result of rising hay costs, natural resources, and reindeer rigging.
• April 5 - Elf Unions slam  SANTAS for training staff to feed & care for the reindeer and sleigh drivers in strike-breaking contingency plans.
• May 26 - Fair Toyworkers Tribunal approves ballot allowing long-haul sleigh drivers to vote on taking industrial action for the first time in 45 years.
• June 2 -  SANTAS offers voluntary redundancies to all 7000 of its toymakers.
• June 22 -  SANTAS's CEO Santa Claus foreshadows "tough decisions" and a greater focus on Asia to turn around the toymaker's loss-making international business.
• July 2 -  SANTAS engineers call off industrial action planned in Melbourne and Perth because of the grounding of Tigger Airways.
• July 11 -  SANTAS' long-haul sleigh drivers vote to take protected industrial action against SANTAS as it had rejected union claims it is sending their jobs offshore
• July 15 -  SANTAS' engineers stop work for 60 seconds and two right-handed engineers were reportedly about to start working for a week using only their left hands
• July 20 -  SANTAS says jobs will be destroyed if IceStar & SANTAS' sleigh drivers are put on the same pay and conditions
• July 22 - Sleigh drivers begin industrial action with unauthorised pre-Christmas deliveries and informing recipients about their union campaign
• July 25 -  Reindeer riggers vote for a protected-action ballot after SANTAS' management knocked back key claims in negotiations over their workplace agreement
• July 29 -  SANTAS' warehouse workers walk off the job over the company's push towards the casualisation of the workforce. SANTAS stands down a sleigh driver and an engineer after they threaten to go on strike.
• August 4 - Cleaners at  Melbourne SANTAS threaten to go on strike unless they get a pay rise - claim  reindeer fed and maintained overseas make more mess.
• August 16 -  SANTAS says it will make dramatic changes to its international business in a process that will affect 1,000 jobs. Elf Unions consider industrial action
• August 19 -  SANTAS engineers say they will stop work for one hour every weekday from August 25 until the week before Christmas
• August 24 -  SANTAS more than doubles its full year net profit to $250 million
• August 25 - SANTAS engineers start work at Sydney SANTAS an hour late.
• August 31 -  SANTAS long-haul Sleigh Drivers meet to talk over their pay and conditions dispute - protest by carrying red whips.
• September 5 - Forty engineers in Brisbane strike
• September 7 -  SANTAS annual report released, showing Santa Claus got $2.2 million in shares in 2010/11, lifting his total remuneration to $5.1 million
• September 20 - More than 4000 Reindeer Riggers and Carers strike over pay and conditions
• September 23 - Sleigh maintenance engineers hold a one-hour strike in Melbourne, and 1300 sleigh rides affected.
• September 30 - Reindeer carers and riggers walk off the job, with 39 sleighs delayed by up to an hour and two sleighs cancelled. TWU flags another nationwide stoppage
• October 5 - Reports emerge that Santa Claus and other senior elves have received death threats. Santa Claus calls for calm in negotiations.
• October 7 - Reindeer carers and riggers call off a nationwide strike but deliveries still face delays because sleigh rides were cancelled
• October 10 - Engineers cancel industrial action after management threatens to dock them a day's pay, but flag more strikes leading up to Christmas
• October 13 -  SANTAS says it will ground five sleighs and cut up 100 reindeer this week. Meat will be served at the SANTAS AGM. Queen Wenceles threatens to intervene
• October 14 - Queen Wenceles says  SANTAS and unions should negotiate or the government will step in. IceStar freight staff refuse to charge for excess weight for 24 hours. Engineers cancel all industrial action for two weeks
• October 15 -  SANTAS says it will cancel 400 domestic sleigh rides over the next month
• October 16 -  SANTAS denies a union claim that it is walking away from negotiations with sleigh drivers
• October 17 - Queen Wenceles says she can't yet intervene, as  SANTAS grounds 16 sleighs and  400 reindeer
• October 18 -  SANTAS says it will ground another two sleighs and a further 80 reindeer.
• October 20 - The engineers say they are now hopeful of reaching a deal and call off all protected industrial action for three weeks, in a challenge to SANTAS to resume its full delivery schedule
• October 28 -  Santa Claus apologises to the kiddies as their Christmas presents may be delayed by strikes. He gets a $5 million salary package at the annual general meeting, where he says the strikes have cost  SANTAS $68 million.
• October 29 -  SANTAS grounds its international and domestic sleighs and reindeer and says it will lock out workers at SANTAS from Monday.
• Fair Toyworkers Tribunal holds a late night hearing in Melbourne
• October 30 - Fair work hearing resumes
• October 31 - Fair Toyworkers Tribunal grants a full termination of the protected industrial action against SANTAS. SANTAS is ordered to return the sleighs and reindeer back to the skies. Elf Unions are ordered to feed and care for the reindeer for the next 21 days. Reindeer and Sleighs begin flying again.
• November 2 Santa Claus, while sorting out his deliveries, finds a PlayStation with a cut cord and fears sabotage - calls in the Ice Police.
• November 4 - Santa Claus fronts the North Pole Senate Inquiry. Santa told North Pole lawmakers that he had to ground the carrier’s sleighs and reindeer because labor disputes were causing a slump in corporate sales. Santa Claus testified for about three hours, almost double the scheduled time.
•  November 4 - Original 'Dirty Dozen' reindeer 'Prancer' develops gastro on SANTAS' Singapore to London Sleigh Ride. Other 3 reindeer are OK, however Sleigh Drivers divert to Dubai due to the mess and smell. Hitching a ride was well known personality 'FishFry' who updated the world via twitter about the latest SANTAS saga. This incident comes exactly one year after a Sleigh Ride from Singapore to Sydney had to turn back after one of the reindeer spontaneously combusted just after take off over an Indonesian island.
• November 21 - SANTAS & ToyWorkers Union unable to come to agreement by deadline - ToyWorkers Tribunal to step in

Almost all of this article was stolen plaigarised copied from The Australian Financial Review, October 31, 2011.