Joyce said: We have decided to ground the Qantas international and domestic fleets immediately.'
Qantas, said all employees involved in the strike action would be locked out from Monday evening and flights grounded from 06:00 GMT on Saturday.
The Airline Annaunced : licensed engineers and baggage, Pilots , ground and catering staff are essential to Qantas operations and the lockout will therefore make it necessary for all Qantas aircraft to be grounded.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said :The Qantas dispute escalated today and I am concerned about that for the national economy ... it could have implications for our national economy,
Qantas said the decision to shut down operations was taken in response to industrial action by the unions.
-Joyce says he has to do this radical action now or the airline will die a death by a thousand slow cuts,-
-The financial impact of action taken to date has reached A$68m and the action is costing Qantas approximately A$15m per week in lost revenue. Approximately 70,000 passengers have been affected and more than 600 flights cancelled,- the airline said.
Australian pilots criticised Qantas' decision to ground its entire fleet. (Qantas suspends all flights)
-Alan Joyce is holding a knife to the nation's throat,- said Richard Woodward, vice-president of the Australian and International Pilots Association. -This is a stunning overreaction. It is straight-up blackmail.-
The pilots union, which is engaged in protracted talks with Qantas management over wages and conditions, called the announcement by Joyce -nothing short of a maniacal overreaction-.
Unions claimed the airline was just seeking to save money by sending jobs overseas as it planned the launch of a premium new airline to be based in Asia, the key plank of its strategy to boost falling international revenues.
They sought guarantees on wages and job security and had vowed to not give in.
Representatives of pilots, engineers and ground staff were also outraged by Qantas's decision to boost Joyce's pay package by 71 per cent to Aus$5.0m ($5.2m) just as he announced Qantas's restructuring plans.
Unions and representatives from the Occupy Sydney movement - inspired by New York's sit-in protest on Wall Street - meanwhile picketed the AGM on Friday demanding an -end to corporate greed-. Qantas suspends flights story, what is the next story ? ....
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