No flight pain as Qantas engineers continue to strike | Canberra ...
Strike action by Qantas engineers hasn’t had a major affect on flights. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)
By Callum Godde and Neve Brissenden in Sydney
Qantas passengers have escaped major disruptions as workers walk off the job for a second time as part of an escalating pay dispute.
Hundreds of Qantas engineers are staging walkouts on Monday as union members push for a 15 per cent pay rise in the first year of a new enterprise agreement, followed by five per cent increases in subsequent years.
The Qantas Engineers’ Alliance said flights between 7am and 9am at major airports in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth would “likely be affected”.
One tracking website showed six domestic and international Qantas flights out of Sydney airport on Monday had been delayed and another two were cancelled altogether.
Three domestic Qantas flights into Brisbane are listed as delayed across the entire day, while none are behind schedule to or from Melbourne.
Qantas claims no delays or cancellations were experienced as a result of Monday’s industrial action.
“Our teams continue to do a great job helping customers get to their destination safely, particularly over the busy school holiday period,” an airline spokesman said in a statement.
Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union national secretary Steve Murphy said people couldn’t trust what Qantas said anymore.
“Whenever you fly Qantas you’re always waiting to see whether or not the flight has delayed, if it’s cancelled when you arrive, to make sure that your bag arrives,” he told ABC TV on Monday.
“The level of trust and damage to Qantas’ brand over the last couple of years really is going to take a quite an effort to turn around.”
The alliance comprises workers represented by the Australian Workers Union, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and Electrical Trades Union.
About 1100 aircraft maintenance workers, which is about 45 per cent of the airline’s engineers, are covered by the agreement under negotiation.
AAP has been told roughly 300 of those were on shift on Monday morning.
Workers have been in negotiations since April, while their enterprise agreement expired at the end of June.
More strike action is planned over the next two weeks.
“Our preference is for Qantas to come back to the table,” Mr Murphy said.
Strike action by Qantas engineers in Melbourne on Thursday threatened disruptions ahead of Saturday’s AFL grand final, but the airline suggested customers also weren’t affected.
The airline said it had contingencies in place for the remainder of this week’s planned strike action.
Qantas is arguing the requested pay rise is unsustainable despite posting a net profit of $1.25 billion in the 2023/24 financial year, down 28 per cent from the previous year.
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