Chaos as strike affect major airports
Written by admin on October 23, 2024
Thousands of jetsetting Australians will be affected today as hundreds of Qantas staff are walking off the job for 24 hours demanding better pay.
An estimated 300 Qantas engineers will strike across all major Australian airports on Wednesday as workers continue to battle for better wages.
Staff in Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport will launch the strike at 10am Wednesday, and engineers in Brisbane’s International Terminal are expected to strike from 1.30AM.
Both cities are also expected to hold rallies as part of the strike.
This is the latest set of strikes after workers walked off the job last month as part of their push for increased wages after their most recent enterprise agreement expired in June.
According to Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union national secretary Steve Murphy, members are “voting overwhelmingly” for better pay after a wage freeze for more than three years during the pandemic.
The engineers have been negotiating with Qantas management since April for a five per cent annual pay rise, with 15 per cent more in the first year to compensate for the wage freeze.
However, the Qantas Engineers’ Alliance – which comprises of there AMWU, Australian Workers’ Union and Electrical Trades Union – claimed there were issues with management at the bargaining table.
“This is because every time there is a problem at Qantas, the executives ignore it and just hope that it will go away,” Mr Murphy said. “Well, we’re not going anywhere.”
National secretary of AWU, Paul Farrow, said Qantas engineers have been dealing with wage freezes “when times are tough” but have received little in return once “the profits are flowing”.
“No more delays, no more excuses,” Mr Farrow said.
ETU national secretary Michael Wright said it was “disgraceful for Qantas to be making billion-dollar profits while these highly skilled workers are having to go “without the pay increase they rightfully deserve”.
“These workers have suffered wage freezes through Covid, all while continuing to make Qantas one of the safest airlines around,” Mr Wright continued.
“Qantas needs to stop stalling, start showing their respect to these workers and pay them what they’re worth.”
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