Turbulent skies and industrial relations: the case of Qantas

Qantas is an international airline operating in a turbulent environment with cost, infrastructure and demand pressures forcing a major consolidation of the industry. With a national industrial relations climate which could be labelled as generally 'benign' for employers over the last decade Qantas has had a series of disputes with its unions over recent years. This has been noteworthy in the context of very low levels of industrial disputation. As an integrated and international airline Qantas has a number of strategies available to it to reduce costs and marginalise unions. Drawing on the literature of the industrial relations policies of multinational corporations, the paper considers the options and constraints facing Qantas as further turbulence hits the airline industry.