Melbourne Airport refuellers plan second strike in a month
A second strike by refuellers in a month at Melbourne Airport will target Qantas, but the airline says flights won’t be disrupted.
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Qantas has assured passengers it will pull out all stops to avoid disruption when refuellers walk off the job at Melbourne Airport for 24 hours from Wednesday afternoon for the second time in just over a month.
The refuellers have been unable to reach agreement on pay, entitlements and roster certainty with their employer Rivet after a year of enterprise negotiations.
As well as Qantas, Rivet services several other airlines at Melbourne Airport under a contract with ExxonMobil.
These include Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Fiji Airways and Qatar Airways plus freight companies DHL and Australia Air Express.
During the last refuellers’ strike on March 8, Qantas positioned an A380 at Tullamarine for the purpose of providing fuel for aircraft, operating to and from the airport.
There were no significant disruptions or delays.
A Qantas spokesman indicated they were prepared to do that again, in order to maintain services for passengers.
He stressed that Qantas had no direct relationship with Rivet and its employees, who had requested a meeting with the airline to discuss their enterprise agreement.
Qantas declined on the basis the airline was not the refuellers’ employer or contractor.
The Transport Workers Union said urgent talks were due to take place this afternoon to try to divert the proposed strike from 5pm on Wednesday.
TWU Victoria and Tasmania branch secretary Mike McNess said workers felt that they had no choice but to exercise their right to protected industrial action after more than a year of talks.
“These workers perform a dangerous and essential job for airlines, namely the Qantas Group,” said Mr McNess.
“We know that pressure from low-cost contracts makes it harder for workers to reach a fair and sustainable enterprise agreement, because the purse strings are being pulled from above.”
He said Qantas management knew it could “exert commercial power to keep pay and conditions low” yet employees of Rivet had not had a pay rise for three years.
“That’s why it has pushed as many workers as possible outside of its business,” said Mr McNess.
“We need a safe and secure skies commission to rebalance aviation and prioritise good, secure jobs, so we can get back to the reliable service Australians deserve.”
He said refuellers had not had a pay increase for three years while ExxonMobil had posted a $56bn profit for the 2022 financial year, and Qantas recorded a $1.43bn half-year gain.
A statement from ExxonMobil said they were focused on ensuring any industrial action had minimal disruption to airlines and their passengers.
“We are working closely with our (airline) customers and we have put continuity plans in place to supply fuel to Melbourne Airport, as well as getting that fuel into planes,” the statement said.
“Given these proactive arrangements we do not expect any material impact to flights or passenger disruptions.”
A Melbourne Airport spokesman said they were working with the refuelling company and airlines to understand the potential impact of the strike on operations, and to minimise disruption to travellers.
Qantas and the TWU are set to face off in the High Court in coming months, over the 2020 outsourcing of more than 1600 ground handling workers.
The airline is appealing against the rulings of the Federal Court and Full Federal Court, which found the outsourcing was unlawful.
Qantas has insisted the decision was made purely for commercial reasons at the height of the pandemic, during which the airline lost billions of dollars in revenue.
The TWU argued Qantas “used” the health crisis to enact a plan to dismantle a heavily unionised workforce and prevent future industrial action.
Originally published as Melbourne Airport refuellers plan second strike in a month
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