The government applied to the labor regulator, Fair Work Australia, to terminate all strikes at Qantas. The tribunal, after a three-hour meeting that ran into early Sunday, didn’t make a decision. The hearing will resume today to hear additional evidence from the government, Qantas and all three unions, said Justice Geoffrey Giudice.
If Fair Work orders a termination, Qantas will submit a “safety case” to Australia’s aviation regulator to resume operations, Joyce told Sky television in an interview today. Once approved by the regulator, Qantas can begin flying within six hours, he said.
The disruption comes amid the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, a summit with leaders from 54 nations including Canada, Australia and the UK, many of which share Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. Seventeen leaders are searching for alternative travel arrangements, the group said.
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Prime Minister Julia Gillard, speaking at a press conference in Perth yesterday, said the strike was “not at all” embarrassing for her government.
CEO Joyce “needs to break the unions like Margaret Thatcher did with the coal miners,” said Odia Ukoko, a 44-year- old Melbourne-based businessman who was in Perth to seek meetings with CHOGM delegates. “If he breaks the union, I won’t buy Qantas tickets but I’ll buy Qantas shares.”
The grounding may become the biggest disruption to aviation in Australia since a six-month national dispute in 1989 saw domestic pilots impose a limit on work hours during a campaign for a 29 percent pay rise. The Royal Australian Air Force stepped in to keep domestic travel running.
Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was given less than three hours’ notice of Qantas’s decision.
“I indicated very clearly to Mr. Joyce that I was disturbed by the fact that we’ve had a number of discussions and at no stage has Mr. Joyce indicated to me that this was an action that was under consideration,” Albanese said. “It’s certainly a breach of faith with the government.”
Flights on the company’s Jetstar budget unit, Qantaslink regional carrier and those by its Jetconnect business to New Zealand will continue. Qantas has about 65 percent of Australia’s domestic market and less than 20 percent of international travel.
International Consolidated Airlines Group’s British Airways, a Qantas partner in the Oneworld airline alliance, said its flights aren’t affected and it offered refunds and rebooking for ticket holders booked on BA services operated by Qantas.
Virgin Australia, the nation’s second-largest carrier, will try to assist stranded domestic travelers and may put on more services. It is also speaking to partners Etihad Airways, Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc. to help with international travellers.
In a statement, Etihad said options being discussed with Virgin Australia include operating a shuttle service between Sydney and Melbourne on certain days of the week using Etihad airplanes, and a daily flight between Sydney and Bangkok.
Locked-out employees will not be required to work and won’t be paid while other staff are required to operate as normal, Qantas said yesterday.
“This is one way of bringing it to a head,” said Peter Harbison, executive chairman at Sydney-based CAPA Centre for Aviation, an industry adviser. “This looks like an attempt to put it behind them before the Christmas period.”
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