Qantas Case Study, Qantas Dispute

QANTAS DISPUTE On October 22nd, 2001, the Industrial dispute between QANTAS and its employees was initiated with the offering of a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. This proposed an 18-month wage freeze for employees plus a sliding scale profit share scheme. Ten out of twelve unions under QANTAS accepted the terms of the agreement, barring the unions of manufacturing employees (AWU and AMWU). They were holding out for a 4-6% pay rise. On the 8th May 2002, some …

…Industrial dispute between management and employees had immense and widespread aftereffects on all stakeholders in the nationally significant industries. The conflict, which lasted 10 months as a result of pay disputes and conflict over management policy, involved a number of stakeholders directly but adversely affected a significant proportion more. But the conflict was not all in vain, and the benefits can exceed the costs, if it is (was) effectively consolidated and managed further down the track.