Qantas strike: Engineers to walk off the job in two-week strike action, AFL fans face grand final chaos

Air travellers are on alert for massive disruptions as Qantas engineers stage two weeks of industrial action that could cause chaos for AFL fans trying to get to the MCG.

The action kicked off in Melbourne on Thursday morning and will spread nationally in the coming days.

Unions are pushing for a 15 per cent pay rise this year and a further five per cent per year going forward, which they say would make up for 3.5 years of wage freezes.

Approximately 1100 aircraft maintenance workers are covered by the agreement under negotiation, which is about 45 per cent of the airline’s engineers.

Their unions warn the action is highly likely to affect Qantas flights in all capital cities, however, the airline disagrees.

Qantas made a profit of $1.25 billion in the 2023-24 financial year, down 28.3 per cent on the previous 12 months.

Chief executive Vanessa Hudson previously said the airline had deliberately reduced its margins on international travel as it worked to balance the needs of shareholders, employees and customers.

Australian Workers Union National Secretary Paul Farrow said the airline had refused to accept a “fair deal”.

“You can’t expect to announce billions in profits and executive bonuses and simultaneously tell the engineers who keep your planes safe to take less and less home to their families,” Australian Workers’ Union National Secretary Paul Farrow said.

“At some point, people are going to say enough.”

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union National Secretary Steve Murphy says workers feel undervalued and under appreciated.

“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.”

A rush of interstate visitors are expected to fly into Melbourne in the coming days in the lead-up to the AFL Grand Final, however, there were no major queues or mass flight cancellations early on Thursday morning.

Further industrial action is expected on Monday 30 September, Wednesday 2 October and Friday 4 October, which is days before the NRL Grand Final in Sydney.

The airline does not ‘currently’ believe the action will affect travellers.

“We’re putting contingencies in place and don’t currently expect this industrial action to have an impact on customers,” a spokesperson 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.”

The dispute comes after customers shared their outrage over airlines’ exorbitant fares for footy fans to get to Melbourne this weekend.

Fans of the Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions are facing astronomical costs for flights to Melbourne to see their beloved teams battle it out in the all-interstate AFL Grand Final this weekend.

Many of the faithful are being forced to consider driving to Melbourne ahead of Saturday’s clash as interstate trains and buses from the Swans and Lions heartlands sell out, too.

Ex-Brisbane Lions midfielder Mitch Robinson blasted the airlines for “price gouging” in an episode of his Rip Through It podcast.

His co-host and fellow ex-Lion Rhys Mathieson said when he looked to book flights to the grand final after the Lions’ game on Sunday, tickets “were going up by $500 a second”, prompting Robinson to lash the airline “scumbags”.

“How dare you, by the way,” Robinson said. “You guys are scumbags, you don’t need any more money.”

Mathieson said when he and his partner went to book flights to Melbourne, prices jumped by $250 just by clicking through the website to change their departure time. He said five minutes later, return flights “went up another $500”.

In a statement, Qantas said it expects close to 100,000 people to fly to Melbourne for the grand final.

- With AAP