Qantas engineers will take industrial action from Thursday. One hour stoppages will occur daily across the airline’s bases, where 1600 engineers will take turns in refusing to work for the first hour of their shifts. The action will continue until December 16.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) has offered Qantas union-aligned ‘strike breakers’ to avoid any expected disruptions to airline’s flight schedule. The airline has refuses this offer, which it has dubbed a “blatantly cynical offer” of strike breakers on overtime wages. “No Australian company would accept this. What incentive would the union have to reach an agreement with workers earning significantly more money while on strike?” Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth said in a statement. “We want to reach a fair and reasonable negotiated outcome with our workers but we cannot accept demands of a guarantee that no changes be made to outdated maintenance work practices, and that no productivity enhancements be introduced.”
Virgin Australia has offered to take on 200 Qantas engineers expected to be affected by the Qantas restructuring and CEO John Borghetti is in talks with unions to discuss the idea. The industrial action will affect all major airports: Brisbane – Monday afternoon/early evenings; Sydney – (domestic only) Tuesday afternoon/early evenings; Adelaide - Wednesday afternoon/early evenings; Sydney – (international only) Thursday afternoon/early evenings; Melbourne – Friday afternoon/early evenings.