Qantas aircraft engineers will ‘almost certainly’ take industrial action

Aircraft engineers will “almost certainly” walk off the job as a dispute continues between the union and Qantas.

Aircraft engineers from across the country are widely expected to take industrial action and walk off the job amid a pay dispute with Qantas.

Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers’ Association (ALAEA), which represents more than 1600 licensed engineers across Qantas, Jetstar and Network Aviation, are voting in ballots over potential strike action.

If it goes ahead, aircraft engineers would be walking off the job for one minute at a time, though customers are not expected to be impacted.

Qantas aircraft engineers would take industrial action by walking off the job for one minute. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

It comes after the union gained approval from the Fair Work Commission to conduct the vote.

ALAEA federal secretary Steve Purvinas said the actions would “almost certainly” happen and they would be Australia wide.

“Qantas, Jetstar, and Network Licenced Aircraft Engineers are being balloted to approve industrial action at their respective airlines,” he told NCA NewsWire.

“The ballots close on August 10 and will almost certainly be in favour of the actions.

“The engineers are seeking modest pay increases in the vicinity of 3 per cent per annum. The Qantas engineers have not had a pay rise for four years.”

The expected industrial action is not expected to impact travellers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Mr Purvinas said while the stoppages would not impact passengers, he mentioned that Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce infamously grounded the airline during a dispute with the ALAEA and two other unions back in 2011.

“From late August we will be able to take industrial action at any or all of the airlines. We will commence by having one-minute stoppages,” he said.

“We want to reassure passengers that our one-minute stoppages will not interrupt their travel plans.

“What we do not know is if Alan Joyce will ground the fleet again. Last time this occurred in 2011, 200,000 passengers were left stranded without notice.”

Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce grounded all fleets in 2011. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

A Qantas spokesperson said they were “disappointed” with the union’s action ballots after the airline had been “negotiating in good faith”.

“We’re disappointed the ALAEA has taken this step given we’ve been negotiating in good faith on the agreements. This action from the union is completely unnecessary,” they said.

“With the industry still recovering from the impact of the pandemic, the last thing it needs is the threat of industrial action.

“Should the union proceed with industrial action, we have contingency plans to minimise any disruptions.

“The latest claim by the ALAEA was for a one-year agreement with a 12 per cent pay rise for Qantas engineers. That’s something we simply can’t afford and is well above wage increases for other employees across the Group.

“Compared to the Group-wide wages policy of 2 per cent annual increases, a 12 per cent pay increase for one year would increase our engineering wages bill by almost $10m this year, which isn’t sustainable.

“The Qantas approach applied to our licensed engineers would see them receive annual increases (backdated to 2021) of 2 per cent in line with the Group wages policy which we introduced when the pandemic hit in 2020. More than 4000 employees across 10 work groups have already made agreements in line with the wages policy.”

Qantas said it was ‘disappointed’ by the ballots action. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Qantas also said engineers were eligible for a one-off $5000 payment, 1000 share rights and a $2000 record results bonus under the three agreements.

Notice will be given to Qantas sometime next month before the expected action occurs.

The Fair Work Act requires 72 hours notice prior to any industrial action.

The news comes at a difficult time for Australia’s national flag carrier, as the whole aviation industry struggles following the impacts of Covid.

Long queues, missing luggage and delayed or cancelled flights have become increasingly common as airlines continue to recover from the pandemic.

Resurgent travel numbers during peak periods like the school holidays have been compounded by staff shortages due to illness and the torrid weather in NSW two weeks ago.

A Qantas passenger called Bella recently aired her horror story with the airline after she waited on the tarmac for four hours with no food, water or airconditioning before her flight from Broome to Perth was cancelled.

A woman waited on a tarmac for hours. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

“Just after 8pm we got on-board and sat on the plane for probably an hour just trying to start the plane. But we would lose power, you could hear the hydraulics, it was so loud – the plane was definitely not happy,” she told 6PR on Monday.

“Four hours later he (the pilot) decided it wasn’t happening today and everyone disembarked.

“(We were told) basically fend for yourself. I watched the entire airline crew, pilot and co-pilot get in a taxi and leave.

A Qantas spokesperson said the issue was caused by a problem with the ground power unit.

“A flight from Broome to Perth was cancelled on Friday night due to an issue with the GPU, which was unable to be rectified by our on-site engineer and required an alternative GPU to be sourced,” they said.

“Flight cancellations when there isn’t another same-day flight to get passengers on their way are always a last resort.

“Our team worked hard to provide overnight accommodation; however, availability was extremely limited in Broome on Friday night due to the it being the busy school holiday period.

“Passengers were reaccommodated on an alternative flight on Saturday morning, and we sincerely apologise to passengers for the disruption to their journey.”