Qantas faces a massive task of restoring its worldwide operations after a weekend shutdown in a bitter industrial dispute which affected at least 70,000 passengers with almost 450 flights cancelled.
Flights grounded since Saturday are being resumed today after an independent tribunal intervened in a last-ditch effort to end the row between the airline and three key unions.
Fair Work Australia granted the Australian government’s application to terminate all industrial action by the Australian Licenced Engineers Union, the Transport Workers Union, the Australian and International Pilots Union and Qantas.
The grounding of flights worldwide was costing the airline an estimated A$20 million a day.
Up to 21 days of negotiations are now planned. No strike action can take place during this period. If no agreement is reached during this period, binding arbitration will take place under the control of Fair Work Australia.
The airline has been locked in the dispute with unions since August when it a major restructuring plan involving the outsourcing of some services. Unions have voiced opposition to the plan which is expected to result in almost 1,000 job cuts at Qantas’ Australian operations.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said: “Operations will resume progressively from this afternoon. Our focus is bringing our schedule back to normal as soon as possible. Safety will remain our first priority at all times.
“The industrial process has now passed into the hands of the independent umpire. All parties will be treated equally and we will respect the decisions that are made.
“We have new and existing agreements with 12 unions. We now anticipate the conclusion of agreements with the remaining three. This has been a challenging period for Qantas, its employees, its customers and its shareholders.
“We sincerely regret the impact on customers of industrial action over recent months, and the effect on employees. We look forward to a rapid recovery and to a period of stability enabling us to focus on our customers and our strategy for the airline.”