Qantas says no delays as engineers fire opening salvos in battle for 15 per cent-plus pay hike
Qantas claims it is ready to keep rolling as it boasts no flight delays in the opening rounds of industrial action by engineers.
The airline claims to have had 300 key ground staff on duty early Monday as airport maintenance workers who are union members stopped work for two hours and joined rallies.
The Qantas Engineers’ Alliance is waging a multi-pronged industrial action. It started with engine and component maintenance workers walking off the job on Thursday, backed by front-line workers taking part in rolling stoppages.
Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The unions warned the Monday peak-hour stoppage was just the opening salvo in a campaign to get their first pay rise in three years.
The workers are pushing for a 15 per cent up-front payment and annual pay rises of 5 per cent. Qantas has rejected the claims, describing them as unsustainable.
Qantas has also rejected claims by the unions that flights were delayed as a result of the industrial action.
“Our teams worked hard to put contingencies in place which meant there were no delays or cancellations to flights this morning as a result of the industrial action,” Qantas said in a statement.
“We have a number of contingency plans for the remainder of this week’s planed strike action and don’t expect it to impact customers.”
It is believed about 1000 members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, the Electrical Trades Unions and the Australia Workers’ Union are participating in the campaign.
In its statement, Qantas said only members of the participating unions could take part in the action.
