Qantas cabin crew vote yes to strikes as they push for better pay and conditions

Qantas is on notice from domestic cabin crew to make a better pay offer after 99 per cent of the airline’s 1200 flight attendants voted in favour of industrial action.

Qantas is on notice from domestic cabin crew to make a better pay offer after 99 per cent of the airline’s 1200 flight attendants voted in favour of industrial action.

Despite support for strikes described by Qantas as “very disappointing”, the Flight Attendants Association of Australia said cabin crew would take a measured approach to any action to minimise disruption to the travelling public.

National secretary Teri O’Toole said the crew simply wanted Qantas to come back to the table with a fair offer, that doesn’t send flight attendants pay and conditions backwards.

No date for strikes, or deadline for a return offer from Qantas, has yet been announced.

Under a new enterprise agreement offered by the airline, cabin crew would have shifts extended from 9.45 hours to 12 hours, and up to 14 hours in the event of disruption.

At the same time, rest periods between shifts could be reduced to 10 hours, which Ms O’Toole said would only increase the issue of fatigue.

Qantas cabin crew have voted in favour of industrial action. Picture: James D. Morgan/Getty Images

Ms O’Toole said the strength of support for the protected industrial action ballot showed “just how out of touch Qantas management was with staff”.

“Our members have languished under expired agreements for several years, while having to bear the burden of stand downs and the Covid pandemic,” she said.

“Meanwhile the demand for travel has rebounded strongly and Qantas is enjoying multi-billion dollar profits. Yet Qantas is asking its loyal employees, who stood by the airline through its worst days, to take pay freezes and sub-inflation pay rises while demanding massive productivity gains.”

Ms O’Toole said the airline was also threatening to exclude existing cabin crew from work on new aircraft such as the A321XLR which was set to replace Boeing 737s in coming years.

“With this ballot outcome, flight attendants have declared enough is enough,” Ms O’Toole said.

“Qantas can’t keep bullying them into accepting poor pay deals while threatening their jobs, while forecasting multi-billion dollar profits and huge executive bonuses.”

A Qantas spokesman said the ballot outcome was “very disappointing” and urged the FAAA to honour their commitment to minimise any disruption to travellers.

“The proposal we’ve put forward includes 3 per cent pay rises and access to more than $7000 in bonus payments,” said the spokesman.

“Cabin crew are also in line to receive 1000 shares worth around $6000.”

He said the changes to shift lengths being sought by Qantas were the same as those in place at other domestic airlines signed off by the FAAA.

“Crew will still have the same maximum hours over their roster period and if they are rostered on to a longer shift they’ll be compensated with overtime of up to 300 per cent.”

The cabin crew vote came after Qantas announced it was expecting to make an underlying profit for the six months to December 31 of up to $1.45bn, $150m more than originally forecast.

The huge sum was attributed to the “continued strength of travel demand” with consumers prioritising travel over other spending, even in the face of soaring airfares.

Qantas and other aviation industry operators were also facing disruption from industrial action by airport fire and rescue teams.

Although they were yet to confirm when and where any strikes would take place, the airport firefighters have voted in favour of stoppages through to the New Year.

Airlines would be unlikely to land at major airports without the support of fire and rescue teams, with off-base workers unable to reach the scene of any emergencies quickly enough.

Qantas shares were up 2 per cent at $6.30 on the ASX around lunchtime on Thursday, giving it a market capitalisation of $11.89bn.