The Qantas challenge

Sunday 30 October 2011

I don’t have a particularly strong view on Qantas (and neither does anyone else at MB). And beyond the obvious, that it’s a contest between the forces of globalisation and local employment (with the usual texture of overpaid executives versus insecure workers thrown in) I don’t have much to add. However the dispute has obviously caused a lot of discomfort and is worthy of examination so I thought I’d unleash the collective genius of the readers.

So, we’ll give full publication and attribution to best reader response offered in comments today that answers the question: How should the Qantas dispute be resolved? Here’s your linkfest to get started. I’ve listed them as most useful to least:

Very useful:

AFR lists union and Qantas demands (free)

Useful:

Malcolm Maiden has some nice detail on where negotiations broke down
Alan Kohler or Rob Burgess on the return of compulsory arbitration

For the enthusiast:

Damon Kitney sees business lining up behind Qantas to fight Labour’s IR laws
Versus Stuart Washington on Qantas being un-Australian
Adele Ferguson sees Qantas at risk of takeover
Michael West on Qantas executives pay rise
Charis Palmer on the spike in Virgin online traffic
More Virgin the winner Nabila Ahmed

Avoid

Robert Gottliebsen on Etihad
John Durie kisses some Joyce butt

About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific's leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.