Qantas Engineers’ Alliance set to strike at Melbourne Airport on Thursday
Footy fans flying into Melbourne are facing travel pain as Qantas engineers strike at Tullamarine airport in an action they say is “highly likely” to disrupt flights.
Victoria
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Qantas union workers will walk off the job at Melbourne Airport on Thursday, the first step in a larger nationwide strike against the airline giant.
The Qantas Engineers’ Alliance, a union made up of the Australian Workers Union, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and Electrical Trades Union, said the industrial action would begin in Melbourne and then spread to all major airports across the country over the next two weeks.
“It is highly likely to affect Qantas flights in all major capitals,” the union said on Wednesday evening.
AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy said the airline’s engineers were “undervalued, underpaid and underappreciated”.
“If you’ve had a bad Qantas experience, well that’s nothing compared to how Qantas makes their workers feel every day,” he said,
“Our highly skilled members deserve fair wages for the incredible work they do to keep us all safe in the air.”
The employees taking part in the industrial action are from Qantas’ Aircraft Maintenance Engineers teams.
The enterprise agreements for the 1100 employees who make up the teams expired in June 2024 and the union is pushing for a 5 per cent pay bump per year plus a 15 per cent first year payment.
The workers will pursue a range of work stoppages at airports around Australia on Thursday and then next Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
While the union warned of flight disruptions, a Qantas spokesman said the company was prepared.
“We’re putting contingencies in place and don’t currently expect this industrial action to have an impact on customers,” the spokesman said.
“We’ve held a series of meetings with the unions and made progress on a number of items.
“We want to reach an agreement that includes pay rises and lifestyle benefits for our people.”
Originally published as Qantas Engineers’ Alliance set to strike at Melbourne Airport on Thursday
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