Travellers brace for delays as Qantas engineer strikes set to ramp up

More than 1000 Qantas engineers are set to walk off the job on Monday morning as demands for increased pay mount.

Travellers are bracing for flight delays as Qantas engineers again walk out on the job over alleged pay disputes.

More than 1000 Qantas engineers — including maintenance engineers, who tow and marshall aircraft’s — are set to walk off the job from 7am until 9am on Monday as strike action remains ongoing since Thursday.

Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth airports are all expected to be affected by the action, which has been brought on by increased calls for better pay.

The The Qantas Engineers’ Alliance — which encompasses the AMWU, the AWU, and the ETU — have allegedly been in negotiations since April, with the most recent enterprise agreement having expired in June.

Qantas engineers will walk off the job from 7am Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ben Clark

The union is pushing for a 15 per cent pay increase with a five per cent rise in subsequent years.

AWU National Secretary Paul Farrow said engineers have been backed into a corner, and “won’t accept seeing their wages lurch backward in real terms while executives get showered in cash”.

“I know that there wouldn’t be a single engineer relishing the idea of delaying passengers,” Mr Farrow said.

“As a former aircraft engineer myself, I know there is real pride in getting people where they need to go safely. But management has backed them into a corner.

“Qantas management has absolutely smashed morale among engineers, and now we’ve reached a real fork in the road.”

Qantas traveller Nathan Good is set to fly from Sydney to Perth for a family holiday, and told Today he and his family got up “super early” for their flight on Monday morning.

“We came all the way from Dapto, so we got up at about 3:30am this morning … we heard about the strike,” Mr Good told the program.

“My lovely wife sent me a message saying ‘Look out’ last night about the Qantas strikes, so we thought we’d get up super early.”

Qantas passenger, Nathan Good, said there was a ‘bit of chaos’ going on. Picture: Today/Channel 9

Mr Good said there is “chaos” at Sydney Airport on Monday morning.

“I think I need a coffee … it’s a little bit of chaos going on around here this morning as well,” he said.

AMWU National Secretary Steve Murphy said the engineers were essential workers during the pandemic and made “sacrifices” for the good of the airline.

“Qantas needs to pay that debt back. Respect your workers, value their skills, pay them what they’re worth,” Mr Murphy said.

“If Qantas values that safety, it needs to show it values its workers. This is what this dispute is all about.”

The action follows calls for increased pay. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ben Clark

A rally is set to be held outside Qantas Headquarters in Mascot, Sydney, at 7.30am on Monday.

It’s understood travellers haven’t been impacted by delays since the action began on Thursday, as of 6am Monday.

A Qantas spokesperson told NewsWire there were no delays or cancellations on Monday as a result of the action.

“Our teams worked hard to put contingencies in place which meant there were no delays or cancellations to flights this morning as a result of the industrial action, despite incorrect claims from the unions,” the spokesperson said.

“Our teams continue to do a great job helping customers get to their destination safely, particularly over the busy school holiday period.

“We have a number of contingency plans for the remainder of this week’s planned strike action and don’t expect it to impact customers.”

Originally published as Travellers brace for delays as Qantas engineer strikes set to ramp up