By Kayla Olaya
Hundreds of Qantas engineers have started a 24-hour strike in a bid to force management to negotiate their pay demands, as the airline said it did not expect the action to affect customers.
More than 300 engineers held rallies outside the international terminals at Melbourne’s Tullamarine and Brisbane airports on Wednesday morning.
Engine components maintenance engineers in Melbourne began strike action at 9am after heavy maintenance engineers in Brisbane downed tools at 1.30am.
The Qantas Engineer’s Alliance [QEA] – made up of three unions – said the airline’s management had refused to return to the bargaining table and increase its previous offer.
Qantas stated it does not expect the action to affect travellers.
“Our teams have worked hard to put contingencies in place,” a spokesperson said.
“There’s been some industrial action by engineers since late September and so far, we’ve been able to successfully ensure it hasn’t resulted in any flight delays or cancellations.
“We had a number of meetings with the unions prior to the industrial action. We want to continue to engage with them to find a way forward, but they have chosen to take action. Our preference is to reach an agreement that includes pay rises and other benefits.”
The engineers’ latest enterprise agreement expired at the end of June.
The QEA wants a pay rise of 5 per cent a year, with a 15 per cent first-year increase to compensate for three and a half years of “wage freezes and as an industry catch-up payment”.
“Union members are voting overwhelmingly to escalate our industrial activities,” Australian Workers’ Union national secretary Steve Murphy said in a statement.
“This is because every time there is a problem at Qantas, the executives ignore it and just hope that it will go away – well, we’re not going anywhere.”
Last month, more than 1000 Qantas engineers went on strike for two hours at airports around Australia. The strikers are largely made up of component engineers and heavy maintenance engineers, who typically fix brake and wheel issues.
On Monday, Qantas was fined $170,000 for three test cases by the Federal Court for illegally sacking 1700 ground workers. After a decision is made on the compensation for all the workers sacked, the embattled airline could face a potential fine of more than $100 million.
The Electrical Trades Union, one of the three unions that are part of the QEA, said the strike had been a long time coming since the wage freezes occurred during the pandemic.
“These highly skilled Qantas workers [...] are taking action because Qantas have refused to come back to the bargaining table and agree to pay them what they are worth,” ETU national secretary Michael Wright said.
“These workers have suffered wage freezes through COVID, all while continuing to make Qantas one of the safest airlines around. Qantas needs to stop stalling, start showing their respect to these workers and pay these workers what they deserve.”
With AAP
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