Over 1000 Qantas workers to strike during peak hour flights today
Airports and travellers are braced this morning for a major nationwide strike by Qantas workers.
More than 1000 engineers are set to walk off the job in protest over wage negotiations, with peak-hour flights this morning set to be most impacted.
The Qantas Engineers' Alliance said flights between 7am and 9am today at major capital city airports Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and Adelaide could be affected during the stoppages.
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Over 1000 engineers will down tools on Monday as part of the continuing industrial action. Steven Siewert
The strike, expected to go for two weeks, kicked off in Melbourne last week before going nationwide.
Industrial action began last Thursday as engine and components engineers downed tools, while line maintenance engineers will stop work today.
Line maintenance engineers tow and marshall aircraft, as well as perform turnaround checks once planes land to make sure they can safely take off again.
The alliance is calling for 5 per cent per year and a 15 per cent first-year payment to make up for three-and-a-half years of wage freezes.
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Qantas workers have been in negotiations since April, with their enterprise agreement having expired at the end of June.
"These workers hold special and valuable skills that take a decade to build up. They were essential workers during the pandemic, and made sacrifices so Qantas would survive," AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy said.
"Qantas needs to pay that debt back. Respect your workers, value their skills, pay them what they're worth."
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Qantas workers have been in negotiations since April. Qantas/Supplied
Qantas said in a statement that it did not expect customers will be impacted by today's work stoppages.
"Over the past four days, we have seen no disruptions to our network as a result of the industrial action from some of our engineering workgroups," a spokesperson said.
"Our teams have done a great job helping customers safely get to their destination over the busy weekend with school holidays and the footy finals.
"We have contingencies in place and don't expect Monday's planned strike action to have an impact on customers, or their travel plans."
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