Qantas Airways engineers announce strike amid wage dispute

Travel disruptions remain a possibility for passengers on Friday as hundreds of Qantas Airways engineers are set to strike for 24 hours across five major airports.

The Qantas Engineers’ Alliance on Thursday announced it would escalate strike action this week amid a wage dispute with the airline as millions of Australians gear up to fly during the festive period, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

Almost 500 of the airline’s line maintenance engineers will walk off the job from 3:30am on Friday until 7:30am the following day.

The stoppages are scheduled to take place at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide airports.

The alliance said in a statement it expects the strike will have an immediate impact as line maintenance engineers are responsible for towing and marshalling aircraft.

"These highly skilled workers have been bargaining in good faith with Qantas,” Electrical Trades Union National Secretary Michael Wright said.

"They have suffered pay freezes during Covid and are only asking for the fair pay they deserve. Qantas only has the safety record it does because of these workers.

“Qantas could end this right now and come to the table with a fair pay offer. It’s disgraceful that Qantas is not respecting these workers and the crucial work they do."

The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union National Secretary Steve Murphy said Qantas would be to blame if there were any travel disruptions for commuters.

“Workers have no other choice now, that during the holiday period, they will be taking industrial action to bring Qantas back to the bargaining table,” Mr Murphy said.

“Qantas is to blame if there’s any disruption to commuters over the holiday period. They have had six weeks to simply do what they said they would.”

The alliance said in a statement it initially put forward a wage claim of five per cent per year with a 15 per cent increase during the first year to compensate for years of wage freezes.

It later reduced the claim, however the alliance said Qantas “refused to budge” on its initial offer of three per cent over three years.

News.Az