Qantas workers are about to escalate industrial action as aircraft towing engineers prepare to walk off the job at peak times to get better pay.
More than a thousand engineers will stage strikes on Monday as union members push for a 15 percent pay rise in the first year of a new enterprise agreement, followed by five percent increases in subsequent years.
Flights between 7am and 9am at major airports in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth are “likely to be affected”, the Qantas Engineers’ Alliance said in a statement on Sunday.
The carrier said several days of industrial action had had no impact on passengers, including those who traveled to the AFL grand final.
“Over the past four days we have not seen any disruptions to our network as a result of industrial action by some of our technical working groups,” a Qantas spokesperson said on Sunday.
“We have taken emergency measures and do not expect Monday’s planned strike action to impact customers or their travel plans.”
The alliance consists of workers represented by the Australian Workers Union, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the Electrical Trades Union.
Qantas said passengers have not been affected by several days of industrial action
AWU national secretary Paul Farrow said the union did not want to delay passengers but had no choice.
“I know there is no engineer who would like the idea of slowing down passengers,” he said.
“As a former aircraft engineer, I know there’s real pride in getting people there safely. But management has backed them into a corner.”
About 1,100 aircraft maintenance personnel, or about 45 percent of the airline’s engineers, are covered by the agreement being negotiated.
The employees have been negotiating since April, while their enterprise agreement expired at the end of June.
Qantas posted a net profit of $1.25 billion in the 2023/24 financial year, down 28 percent from the previous year.