Qantas line maintenance workers around the country are set to walk off the job on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
All major ports are expected to be impacted by the industrial action.
As many as 160 Aircraft Maintenance Engineers are rostered to work during the period of action on Friday, with only members of the Qantas Engineers Alliance eligible to participate.
Similar industrial action took place last Friday, with Qantas saying in a statement that there was “no impact to customers as a result”.
Qantas engineers have been taking industrial action since late September as part of ongoing enterprise agreement negotiations.
Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AUWU) national secretary Steve Murphy said “aircraft maintenance workers are feeling disrespected by the behaviour of Qantas and we all know how that feels”.
“Workers have no other choice now, that during the holiday period, they will be taking industrial action to bring Qantas back to the bargaining table.
“Qantas is to blame if there’s any disruption to commuters over the holiday period.”
A Qantas spokesperson said “our teams are working hard to ensure that this industrial action has minimal impact on customers’ holiday plans”.
“We have put a number of contingencies in place and extra resourcing on the ground to ensure our customers get away as planned.”
A campaign from the Qantas Engineers’ Alliance has made the case that they deserve fair pay for their work with the airline.
“During the pandemic, workers made sacrifices so Qantas would survive – copping wage freezes and going months without secure work,” the Alliance wrote in a petition.
“While that was happening, Qantas rorted over $2 billion from the public purse, millions were given to CEO salaries and executive bonuses, and hardworking customers were price gouged.”
Engineers are seeking a 40 per cent pay increase over three years, which the airline says is not sustainable.
A Qantas spokesperson has said it is “disappointing to see the unions targeting people travelling to see loved ones at this time of year.”
“We’re offering our engineers a competitive package including pay rises, upskilling and career progression that will enable them to earn significantly more over the next few years.”
Originally published as Qantas engineers to walk off job on one of the busiest travel days of the year