Delays possible at major airports as Qantas engineers begin 24-hour strike

Hundreds of Qantas engineers will stop work for more than 24 hours at the country’s major airports, as a long-running pay dispute between the airline and unions threatens to disrupt thousands of travel plans.

About 500 engineers at airports in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth began walking off work from 3:30 a.m. local time on Friday, and will not return to work until 7:30 a.m. local time on Saturday.

The long strike comes after negotiations between Qantas and unions representing engineers over their demand for a 25 per cent pay rise failed.

Unions have been negotiating an enterprise agreement with Qantas since April, but failed to reach an agreement before the last deal expired in June.

The Qantas Engineers Alliance, made up of the Australian Workers Union (AWU), Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and Electric Trades Union (ETU), is seeking an initial pay rise of 15 per cent. hundred and a 5 percent increase. hundred increase per year.

Unions claimed Qantas was “refusing to budge” on its offer of a 3 per cent pay rise per year over a three-year period. However, the airline said its proposal was a “competitive package” that would allow its engineers to “make money”. much more in the coming years.”

The strike comes as millions of travelers prepare to pass through airports in the run-up to Christmas and during the busy summer period.

Unions said it was likely the strikes would have an immediate impact at all five airports because line maintenance engineers stopping work were tasked with towing and marshalling planes.

Qantas does not expect any delays, however, and said it had a number of contingency measures in place to avoid disruption.

‘Qantas is to blame’

Friday’s industrial action followed a six-week break, with engineers last walking out at Qantas’ annual general meeting in October.

“Workers have no choice now: over the holiday period they will take industrial action to bring Qantas back to the negotiating table,” AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy said.

“Qantas is responsible if there is any disruption to commuters during the holiday period.

“They had six weeks to just do what they said they would do.”

In a statement, Qantas said it had a number of plans in place to avoid any disruption to travelers and expected to be able to operate its routes as planned on Friday.

“Qantas has been able to manage the impact of this (industrial action) so far and this has not resulted in any delays or cancellations for customers so far,” he said.

Sydney Airport – which is expected to have its busiest domestic travel day since 2019 on Friday – said it would work with Qantas to avoid any disruption to travelers.

“We will support Qantas in implementing its contingency plans to minimize the impact on passengers,” a Sydney Airport spokesperson said.

Further work stoppages have been planned by the union if it cannot reach an agreement with the airline, and another strike is expected to take place next Friday, December 20.