Australian Qantas's decision to grand entire fleets receives criticism

Australian Qantas's decision to grand entire fleets receives criticism

The decision by Australia's largest airline company Qantas to ground its entire flights on Saturday has encountered criticism from both government and the trade unions.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce announced at a press conference in Canberra that all domestic employees involved with the dispute would be locked out as of 8 p.m. local time on Monday, but the flights would be grounded immediately.

"We are locking out until the unions withdraw their extreme claim and reach an agreement with us," Joyce said.

But the reaction to Joyce's decision was negative.

Australian federal government Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said he was very disappointed by the decision and the government was extremely concerned about the future of Qantas, its workforce, and also the traveling public.

Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the suspension of all Qantas flights could have been avoided with earlier government action.

Abbott told reporters at Melbourne that the airline is an essential service and an important part of the economy.

"The government has been procrastinating for weeks about this and now it's urgent that it should be solved immediately," Abbott said.

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) said late Saturday in a statement that Qantas management never wanted to resolve its dispute with employees and no amount of chaos will deter them from sending jobs offshore.

TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon said the airline's indefinite grounding of its entire domestic and international flights and lockout of employees was designed to destroy it.

"Today's unwarranted and disgraceful snap announcement by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is designed to destroy Qantas as we have always known it," he added.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) called an urgent hook-up of Qantas unions on Saturday night to discuss the lock out of the airline staff and the grounding of its flights.

ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence said the airline's management should reconsider their decision and get back to the negotiation table to get an agreement with their workforce.

"Alan Joyce needs to urgently reconsider this lock-out and grounding," Lawrence said in a statement on Saturday.

"This is a most unusual decision which is completely unwarranted, and will only hurt Qantas brand and customers."

The Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) said Qantas' decision to ground the entire Qantas fleet is "holding a knife to the nation's throat" and CEO Alan Joyce has "gone mad".

AIPA vice president Richard Woodward said the move was " premeditated, unnecessary and grossly irresponsible", adding "it was a stunning overreaction. It is straight-up blackmail."

Meanwhile, the Australian Workers Union criticized Qantas' action to suspend all domestic and international flights as an " ambush on the Australian people".

AWU President Paul Howes said unions routinely gave companies 72 hours notice before industrial action. "But Qantas management has given no notice before this wildcat grounding of their fleet," Howes said in a statement.

Editor: Wang Guanqun

English.news.cn   2011-10-29 19:01:17 FeedbackPrintRSS
By Jiang Yaping

SYDNE, Oct. 29 (Xinhua)