Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has thrown down the gauntlet on union strikes by taking the unprecedented step of grounding 108 domestic and long-haul aircraft effective at 5pm on 29-Oct-2011. Qantas is forced to ground its fleet after locking out employees members of the ALAEA, TWU, and AIPA unions from 8pm 31-Oct-2011. These unions fly and maintain Qantas aircraft. Mr Joyce said the grounding would go on for as long as it takes for unions come to terms.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

http://www.centreforaviation.com/analysis/qantas-throws-gauntlet-to-employees-by-locking-them-out-from-8pm-monday-61587

I don't fly BA for the same reason. Showing no respect whatsoever to their passengers. Disgraceful behaviour from the airline.

I read the article. I did not see why talks broke down. Also I did not see what the union is asking for in terms on wages and benefits, or what management has offered. I wonder who will blink first.

More details here >

He did this within 24 hours of a 5 MILLION USD pay rise. That Irish midget, (Qantas new CEO) is a disgrace.

Everyone, Virgin Australia is going great though

http://www.abc.net.au/news/

There are now FOUR threads running on this topic.

Can they be merged into one?

Closing all but the one in News Clippings. We are trying to keep up but sometimes there can be confusion.

Can't merge topics due to breaking search engines. I did duplicate my News quotes in the current open topic though.