New Zealand's Employment Relations Authority has ruled a dispute between pilots, Qantas and two of its subsidiaries should be urgently heard in court.
The dispute centres around the Australian airline's plans to stop wholly-owned New Zealand-based subsidiary Jetconnect operating domestic services in favour of another subsidiary, discount airline JetStar.
The Air Line Pilots' Association is seeking an injunction from the Employment Court in an attempt to stop airline operations being transferred from Christchurch to where JetStar will be based in Auckland.
As part of the changes, Jetconnect plans to close its Christchurch base which has 19 pilots and 33 cabin crew in June.
The union took the matter to the Employment Relations Authority earlier in May, claiming that the plans breached terms of its collective employment agreement with Jetconnect.
Air Line Pilots' Association executive director Rick Mirkin says staff have been given the choice of shifting to Auckland for the New Zealand launch of JetStar, or lose their jobs.
Mr Mirkin told Checkpoint he believes the handling of the closure of the Christchurch base breaches the Employment Relations Act.
The Employment Relations Authority on Wednesday agreed the matter raises substantial questions of law and should be heard urgently in the Employment Court.
Mr Mirkin says mediation is continuing but the matter will be heard in court on 26 May.
The court action could jeopardise the JetStar launch on 10 June. JetStar says it is examining the authority's decision but hopes it will not affect the launch.
