Qantas back in air soon after FWA terminates industrial dispute

Qantas back in air soon after FWA terminates industrial dispute

Fair Work Australia ( FWA) on Sunday night announced the termination of Qantas industrial dispute with three unions, paving the way for the airline's return to the sky as soon as Monday afternoon.

Following Qantas announcement to ground its entire flights due to on-going industrial action, FWA intervened in the dispute by setting up an emergency hearing in Melbourne on Saturday night.

FWA said it made the decision to terminate industrial actions, because the dispute is hurting Australia's economy and its fragile tourism industry.

In a press conference shortly after the decision was handed down, Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten said the federal government is pleased with the decision.

"We are pleased after 24 hours of turmoil, common sense was restored," he said. "We believe now that Qantas and the unions will focus on getting flying as soon as they can."

Qantas earlier said it could be flying again within six hours depending on the outcome of Sunday's hearing.

The ruling also means there will be 21 days for the airline and unions to negotiate on a fair and balanced basis. If the party cannot reach an agreement at the end of the 21 days, the FWA will intervene and comes up with a decision that may not satisfy both the airline and the unions.

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 with Australian Licensed Engineers Union (ALAEA), the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Australian and International Pilots Union (AIPA).

The grounding led to Qantas' grounding of 108 planes, which has affected almost 70,000 passengers in 22 airports around the world, as well as costing the national economy of more than 267 million U. S. dollars a day.

While pilots union boss Barry Jackson said Qantas was now " holding the country to ransom," Qantas chief Alan Joyce defended the decision saying that the airline had been "dying a slow death" due to rising competition and high local currency, and the airport cannot afford to see another year of continuous strike actions that will "kill the airline, kill its brand, kill its customer loyalty and destroy the jobs of thousands of Australians."

Editor: yan

English.news.cn   2011-10-31 00:22:58 FeedbackPrintRSS
MELBOURNE, Australia, Oct. 30 (Xinhua)