Australia is facing what employers say is its worst period of industrial unrest in decades, with disputes hitting airlines, ports and mines as unions use an unprecedented resources boom and staff shortage to fight for a greater share of profits.
Business leaders say the spate of disputes is threatening investment and exports and rekindling Australia's old reputation as an industrial relations minefield -- a claim unions reject as scaremongering.
Qantas Airways is trying to resolve pay disputes with aircraft engineers and pilots who are threatening to walk off the job over restructuring plans, potentially grounding flights. Qantas pilots have not been on strike since 1966.
While there may be a spike in industrial unrest in coming years as workers and unions seek to tap into a resources boom which the Reserve Bank of Australia says is set to last 20 years, few see a return to the strike-prone days of the 1970s and 80s.
"If you compare the level of industrial action this year to 20 to 30 years ago, there is no comparison," said John Howe, director of the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law at Melbourne University.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said last week the prospect of industrial action was threatening the airline's operations.
"Our international business is losing money, our international business, if these demands are met, will go back even further," Joyce told ABC television.