Now I'm confused. I thought Alan just woke up one morning and thought to himself 'I think I will ground the airline'. I have always understood the board and the rest of the buisness knew nothing about it.
Yes they did, but it was Alan's HUGE gamble. He took a punt that if he grounded the airline, FWA would step in and decide the issue in favour of Qantas. They did step in, but only after the Federal Government made application to terminate the unions protected industrial action resulting only that the unions and Qantas then had to sit down to reach agreement. Pretty much where they already were before the grounding.
Nothing achieved and sooooooo much lost.
See decision here.
https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/dec...1fwafb7444.htm