October 31, 2011 – 6:21 pm
It looks more like stormy rather than blue skies ahead for Qantas and its pilots, licensed engineers and ground staff this afternoon as the first of its grounded jets returned to service following a 2 am emergency ruling by Fair Work Australia which terminated industrial action by all of the parties. The circumstances of the [...]
October 31, 2011 – 2:21 am
Updated 1030 At a press conference this morning Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said big business, small business and major shareholders had given their support for his ‘courageous’ actions in grounding the fleet on Saturday. He explained that Qantas had grounded the fleet because the industrial action that was killing Qantas with a thousand cuts was [...]
October 30, 2011 – 3:43 pm
It was intriguing to watch the Prime Minister Julia Gillard resist answering the question this afternoon as to whether the government was seeking a termination or suspension of industrial action in its part heard application to Fair Work Australia to bring the Qantas dispute to an end because of the potential damage it could do [...]
October 30, 2011 – 11:21 am
A short while ago Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce, explained to Alan Kohler on the ABC’s Inside Business program how the grounding decision had been intended to make the dissenting unions feel the same pain as the company and had brought ‘certainty’ to its passengers. Joyce denied that Qantas brought on its pre-planned action to force [...]
October 30, 2011 – 6:59 am
It’s interval time between the acts in the Qantas theatre of the absurd. The patrons and the staff have been locked out, but the judges who have been called in to sort out the plot will not return to the bench until 2 pm, after last night’s epic opening performances which stretched into the early [...]
October 30, 2011 – 12:33 am
Fair Work Australia announced at about twenty minutes past midnight that it needed to hear more evidence from Qantas witnesses in support on its decision to ground its domestic and international flights from 5 pm eastern time yesterday Saturday. The three judges hearing the federal government’s application for it to intervene in the disputes between [...]
October 29, 2011 – 11:43 pm
According to tweets sent from the FWA hearing by ABC reporter Amelia Marshall, Qantas is opposed to any order by the tribunal that would require it to resume flights without the issues with the unions being resolved. Qantas has cited safety as a factor in its desire to keep its domestic and international services on [...]
October 29, 2011 – 7:08 pm
In what can only be described as controlled fury, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese, has cast doubts on the maturity, sincerity and behaviour of Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce following his announcement just before 5 pm that he was grounding its entire domestic and international operations until the pilot, licensed engineer and [...]
October 29, 2011 – 5:17 pm
(Regular updates) In an astonishing dummy spit, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce has grounded the Qantas domestic and international fleet until such time as the pilots, the licensed engineers and the ground handlers withdraw their lawful industrial claims and campaigns. However everyone will be paid until 8 pm Monday eastern time, after which the members [...]
October 29, 2011 – 12:08 pm
Whatever happens in the labor dispute between Qantas and its pilots, licensed engineers and ground handling staff this coming week, the political context is about to fire up. On Friday 4 November a Senate inquiry into two proposed bills will begin. They contain provisions that would frustrate the Qantas off shoring strategies, and prevent the [...]
