Stuck in the Terminal with the Gates Firmly Shut

Suspension and Termination of Industrial Action after Qantas

Abstract

The foreshadowed lockout by Qantas on Saturday, 29 October 2011 of approximately 3000 employees affecting potentially hundreds of thousands of passengers globally, with no warning to the public, sharply focused the public mind on the powers of Australia’s industrial tribunal, Fair Work Australia (‘FWA’), to intervene in industrial disputes. Scenes of stranded passengers, late night FWA hearings and the interventions by Federal and state governments captured the public’s attention in ways reminiscent of some of the nation-stopping oil industry disputes of the 1970s and 1980s. The purpose of this article is to provide an analysis of the powers of FWA to deal with protracted disputes and the legislative policy drivers at work. It does so by first providing the context and history of how such disputes were settled by predecessor industrial tribunals. The authors then summarise FWA’s current jurisdiction and give a précis of relevant decisions that have been handed down since the passage of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (‘FW Act’). That analysis colours the subsequent discussion of the Qantas dispute. In concluding, the authors join the chorus and offer their thoughts on policy and possible changes to the FW Act.