The Qantas cabin crew have voted to hold a 24-hour strike in the next few weeks, leading to chaos and passenger woes with heavy holiday traffic. In a vote conducted by the Flight Attendants Association of Australia (FAAA), about 99% of 1200 cabin crew rejected the proposal by Qantas and voted to strike demanding an increase in pay and better working conditions.
Qantas has offered a 3% annual pay hike and over $4,700 in bonuses along with 1,000 Qantas shares. The FAAA has been negotiating on behalf of the Qantas cabin crew.
According to the Australian Financial Review, FAAA secretary Teri O'Toole said: “The flight attendants wanted to avoid disrupting Christmas holiday travel but Qantas needed to come up with a better offer to prevent strikes. Cabin crew have worked through the pandemic, have dealt with unhappy passengers due to the issues with baggage, canceled flights, and all the troubles that Qantas has had they have felt the brunt of this. This should be a time of recognition for the hard work they've done, not punishment for the pandemic."
The FAAA also claimed that a two-year pay freeze due to COVID-19 has left them tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket.
Qantas described the announcement as a "very disappointing step" as negotiations for a new agreement continue.
According to Qantas spokesperson: “The proposal we have put forward includes 3% annual pay rises and access to more than $7000 in bonus payments. The cabin crew are also in line to receive 1000 shares worth around $6000. The crew will still have the same maximum hours over their roster period, and if they are rostered on to a long shift, they will be compensated with overtime of up to 300%. We want our existing crew to operate our new Airbus A321XLR when they arrive and we'll continue to negotiate toward that goal."
They have said they will minimise the impact to customers of any industrial action and we are urging them to stick to their word," a Qantas spokesperson added.
However, the union has not made any official announcement on the date of the strike.
This decision comes just a day after Qantas reported a profit of $1.45bn for the first half of 2023.