About 600 Qantas engineers taking industrial action for better pay

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Qantas says it doesn't expect any impact on travel with line maintenance engineers taking industrial action today calling for better pay. The strikes are timed to coincide with the airline's annual general meeting in Hobart.

Transcript

00:00Around 600 line maintenance workers walked off the job at 7 a.m. nationwide.

00:07Now, these are the workers responsible for towing and marshalling an airplane on the tarmac,

00:12as well as conducting final safety checks before a plane departs.

00:16So they play a pretty crucial role in the running of an airline.

00:19Now, these workers are striking nationwide,

00:22and they've timed it around the Qantas AGM in Hobart this morning.

00:26They're essentially calling for better wage growth.

00:28These workers say that their wages haven't increased in three and a half years during the pandemic,

00:34and they haven't kept up with inflation.

00:36They're calling for a 5% wage increase, as well as a one-off 15% pay rise.

00:42Now, the union representing these workers says that they're a little bit like roadside assistants for planes.

00:47If a plane breaks down or something happens on the tarmac,

00:50these are the workers who go out and actually help them.

00:53This is what a union spokesperson said earlier.

00:56We've decided to take this action because I just can't stress enough

00:59how frustrated these workers are with the level of goodwill

01:02that they've shown Qantas during their darkest days

01:05to make sure that we got through COVID safely,

01:07the aircraft are always leaving the ground,

01:09and after four out of the last 10 years having wage freezes,

01:12that Qantas can't come to the table with a fair deal that recognises their skills,

01:17but more importantly, the fact that it's their reputation of safety

01:22is built on the shoulders of these workers.

01:25And Victoria, what about passengers? Are they being affected?

01:30Well, look, Dan, we've been at Sydney Domestic Airport now for a couple of hours

01:34and as far as I can tell, no flights seem to have been impacted or are running late.

01:39In fact, it seems to be pretty smooth here.

01:42Passengers are unaware of the strike as well.

01:45Now, these workers have been striking since September

01:48and Qantas says since September there's been minimal to no impacts on passengers.

01:53They say they have around 400 maintenance crew working nationwide today,

01:58so they don't expect there to be any impacts today.

02:01There is another strike planned for later this afternoon, later this evening,

02:04my apologies, at 6pm Sydney time.

02:07That's another four-hour stoppage.

02:09So if you are catching a flight today,

02:11it might be wise to get to the airport a little bit early.

02:14This strike this morning is a four-hour strike as well,

02:17so time will tell if there are flown impacts from the strike today.

02:23For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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