Unions representing Qantas workers may challenge a ban on strike action but say they hope to settle their industrial dispute with the airline.
Early this morning, Fair Work Australia (FWA) ordered Qantas and three unions to stop industrial action for 21 days and enter negotiations to resolve their differences.
The emergency hearing followed Qantas' decision on Saturday to ground its entire domestic and international fleets after weeks of union stoppages.
Transport Workers Union (TWU) national secretary Tony Sheldon said the union would announce its intentions in the next 48 hours.
"If the company negotiates in good faith, which is what we're expecting the company to do, the next 21 days we will not be taking industrial action," Mr Sheldon told reporters in Sydney on Monday.
"We are also considering with our legal advisers whether we should appeal this decision."
Grounding all Qantas flights had only weakened the airline's image, he added.
"Quite clearly the senior executives of Qantas need to be soul searching of what damage they've done to the Qantas brand."
The TWU rejected the suggestion that Qantas had gained the upper hand after putting the government in a position where it had to intervene.
"I think it's a success for all the parties to be able to conciliate within 21 days, and I think it's a success to the fact we've got a right to arbitration," Mr Sheldon said.
"As far as Qantas goes, at this point, we're committed in the next 21 days to reach agreement."
Australian International Pilots Association (AIPA) vice-president Captain Richard Woodward said he predicted the forthcoming negotiations with Qantas would result in a forced arbitration.
"I think they (Qantas) will end up stonewalling us for 21 days, and we'll end up in forced arbitration," Mr Woodward told Network Seven on Monday.
Mr Woodward said the move by Qantas to ground 108 planes and the subsequent ruling by the FWA had only emboldened the airline's management.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) issued a joint statement on Monday to its members from the association's federal secretary Steve Purvinas and federal president Paul Cousins.
"At no stage will we sit idle and watch Qantas continually shrink at the expense of new entities based offshore as a means of sidestepping Australian labour laws and aircraft maintenance principles," the statement said.
The unions are in wage disputes with Qantas and also want assurances that Qantas will pay equal wages to employees who work in Australia but are based in the airline's new Asia-based operations.
ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence welcomed Monday's intervention but warned that unions and Qantas still had to negotiate.
"But I have to stress that there's a lot of work to be done, and the ACTU and the unions will be working as hard as we can to ensure the operation is put back on proper footing and all of those issues are addressed through the process of Fair Work Australia," Mr Lawrence told reporters in Melbourne on Monday.
