Qantas grounds all flights over union dispute
29.10.11
Qantas is to ground all flights - both international and domestic - with immediate effect due to an industrial dispute. A statement from the Australian airline said all employees involved in industrial action would be locked out from Monday evening and flights grounded from 06:00 GMT today.
Relations between the unions and Qantas management started deteriorating in August after the airline announced a restructuring and outsourcing plan. The airline has been hit by a series of costly strikes. Baggage handlers, engineers and pilots have been involved in the action which the company says is costing A$15m (£10m) a week. It issued a statement saying customers booked on Qantas flights should not go to the airport until further notice. The airline said a full refund would be available to those affected.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce announced the grounding of the airline on Saturday: ‘The airline will be grounded as long as it takes to reach a conclusion on this.’ He said that he would not take ‘the easy way out’ and agree to union demands. That would destroy Qantas in the long term. I'm actually taking the bold decision, an unbelievable decision, a very hard decision, to ground this airline.’
The Australian minister for transport, Anthony Albanese, said the government would take action to intervene in the dispute. He said: ‘The government is making an urgent application to Fair Work Australia [an industrial court] to terminate all industrial action at Qantas. This will be aimed at both actions by unions and by Qantas management.’
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