Australian PM wants Qantas, unions to talk

Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Monday that Qantas management and unions should get around the bargaining table to solve an industrial dispute that has prompted flight cancellations across the country. The airline cancelled 16 domestic flights on Monday and will cut almost 400 domestic flights affecting 60,000 passengers for November. Qantas has blamed ongoing strike action by maintenance engineers for its decision to ground five planes. Qantas is battling union disputes on three fronts, with engineers, ground staff and pilots all stepping up their campaigns for better pay and conditions. Gillard says the government has emergency options open to it to intervene if the dispute escalates to the stage that it threatens the national economy - but it's not there yet. "We are still at the stage in this dispute where both parties say they want to negotiate a conclusion to it," Gillard told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radio in Queensland's capital city Brisbane. "So my message has been loud and clear: they should get round a table and get it done."