World leaders trapped in Qantas chaos

World leaders trapped in Qantas chaos

The timing could hardly have been worse for the Australian Government after a snap Qantas decision on Saturday to ground its entire fleet in response to months of industrial agitation has left world leaders stranded in the West Australian city of Perth.

According to Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) host and Prime Minister Julia Gillard, 17 heads of commonwealth government delegations due to leave Perth over the past 24 hours have been forced to linger in Perth with no concrete plan for returning home.

"They took it in good spirits when I briefed them about it," Gillard told reporters at a press conference on the sidelines of CHOGM.

The exact number of stranded travelers is not known but some estimates place Qantas customers in the many tens of thousands around the globe, initiating widespread chaos and anger at international and domestic airports.

Australia's Government is sweating on the outcome of an application to Fair Work Australia that has been running to attempt to settle the ill-tempered deadlock.

Gillard last night warned the Qantas' big guns and the three trade unions involved representing pilots, engineers and some baggage and ground staff - that the spiraling dispute must be " urgently resolved" before it also grounds the two-speed Australian economy.

Gillard has called in the nation's industrial swat team, Fair Work Australia to deal with the conflict.

"As a result of the dramatic escalation of that dispute, the Government has taken a rare decision to make application to Fair Work Australia to have the industrial action terminated and have Fair Work Australia deal with this dispute," Gillard told reporters in Perth.

There was fury on the ground in Perth Saturday night with Qantas customers turning back after checking through customs and returning to already packed hotels around the city.

Ongoing industrial action has been spiraling out of control for several months, but no one expected Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce to pull the trigger on angry unions in such dramatic circumstances.

"Gobsmacked. Utterly gobsmacked." was the reaction from Phil Costigan, a Sydney-sider stranded in Perth for CHOGM 2011. An estimated 6000 delegates and media are attending the event.

Workplace Minister Senator Chris Evans said in Sydney that if the parties failed to find an agreement then Fair Work Australia would independently settle the dispute through its special powers when the national economy is threatened by an industrial conflict.

Last night, while in Perth hosting an event at CHOGM, Gillard called on Qantas and the unions to find common ground and find it quickly.

"My message to Qantas, the employees and trade unions is Australians do want to see this could be sorted out," She said.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce defended the decision which came just a few days after he himself received a multimillion dollar pay rise.

"We are locking out until the unions withdraw their extreme claim and reach agreement with us," Joyce said at a snap press conference to announce the action.

The Australian Transport Minister Tony Albanese called Joyce's move a "breach of faith". Pilots union boss Barry Jackson in turn said Qantas was now "holding the country to ransom."

Editor: Tang Danlu

English.news.cn   2011-10-30 14:09:11