FWA holds emergency hearing to resolve Qantas dispute
Fair Work Australia (FWA) is holding an emergency hearing in Melbourne on Sunday to resolve a dispute that has grounded Qantas' entire fleet.
Australia's largest airline company, Qantas on Saturday made a sudden announcement to ground its entire flights including domestic and international flights, and locking out its staff due to pay and job security quarrel.
While the grounding has lead to 447 flights canceled, leaving at least 68,000 passengers stranded worldwide, and will wreak havoc on the Australian economy, the federal government has asked FWA, which has the potential to suspend or terminate the industrial action, to intervene in the dispute.
The three-person FWA panel hearing started on Saturday night and ended before resuming on Sunday.
The hearing attempts to resolve the industrial dispute between Qantas and the Australian Licensed Engineers Union (ALAEA), the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Australian and International Pilots Union (AIPA), and to decide whether Qantas acted legally in grounding its entire fleet in response to the ongoing industrial dispute with three unions.
Workplace Relations Minister Chris Evans said on Sunday morning that FWA must make a determination on Sunday afternoon, because this is what would best serve the public interest.
Qantas said it could be flying again within six hours depending on the outcome of Sunday's hearing.
Qantas has said its actions will cost the company up to 21.4 million U.S. dollars a day, and furious passengers in major cities around the world have vowed never to fly with Qantas again after being left stranded.
Editor: Tang Danlu
English.news.cn 2011-10-30 14:47:20
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