I'll start this by saying that you are my favourite poster on AFF Markis10. You have taught me more than anyone on AFF so it pains me to disagree with you.
As I understand the Fair Work Act, the decison by Fair Work Australia means:
1. There can be no further industrial action in this dispute by either the Unions or the employer.
2. The bargaining agents (in this case Qantas management and the Unions) have 21 days to reach agreement on the terms for the Enterprise Agreements (EAs) for the Pilots, Engineers and ground staff. That is three separate agreements and three serarate Unions, but only one employer.
2. If they do not reach agreement either party may apply to Fair Work Australia (FWA) for an additional 21 days to seek to reach agreement, if they believe that they are making progress. FWA may decide to either grant the extension or take the dispute to arbitration. There can be no further extension of the bargaining period, so a maximum of 42 days before arbitration.
3. If FWA arbitrate the dispute then FWA will decide the terms of each of the three EAs. Only the matters currently in dispute can be arbitrated, so no new issues can be raised.
4. The result of the arbitration is binding on both parties.
5. In summary, there will be no messy Christmas. At least not caused by industrial action taken by Qantas Pilots, Engineers or ground staff. Or flight attendants for that matter, as they have recently reached agreement on their EA.
It's interesting to note that Qantas have not put a proposed EA to a vote of all staff, as they are entitled to do at any time under the Fair Work Act. I can only assume that Qantas believe that the majority of their employees support their Union and would reject any proposed EA that their Unions did not support.
If there are any industrial lawyers out there, please feel free to correct me.
