Possible delays at major airports as Qantas engineers begin 24-hour strike

Dec 13 2024
ABC News

Around 500 Qantas engineers will stop work for a full day over a long-running pay dispute.

In short:
Hundreds of Qantas engineers have walked off the job for 24 hours after long-running pay negotiations between unions and the airline stalled.

The strike action will affect travellers flying at airports in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

What's next?
The industrial action will end at 7:30am local time on Saturday at each airport, but additional strikes are planned for next Friday, December 20.


Hundreds of Qantas engineers will stop work for more than 24 hours at major airports around the country, as a long-running pay dispute between the airline and unions threatens to disrupt thousands of travel plans.

Around 500 engineers across airports in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth started walking off the job from 3:30am local time on Friday, and will not return to work until 7:30am local time on Saturday.

The lengthy strike comes after negotiations broke down between Qantas and the unions representing engineers over their request for a 25 per cent pay rise.

Unions have been negotiating an enterprise bargaining agreement with Qantas since April, but were unable to reach a deal before the most recent agreement expired in June.


Unions say the strike will affect passengers on Friday, but Qantas says it has plans in place.

The Qantas Engineers' Alliance, which is made up of the Australian Workers Union (AWU), Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), is seeking a 15 per cent up-front pay rise and a 5 per cent increase per year.

The unions claimed that Qantas "refused to budge" on its offer of a 3 per cent wage increase per year over the course of three years, however, the airline said its proposal was a "competitive package" that would allow its engineers to "earn significantly more over the next few years".

The strike comes as millions of travellers prepare to transit through the airports in the lead-up to Christmas and during the busy summer period.

The unions said it was likely that the strikes would have an immediate impact at the five airports, as line maintenance engineers who were stopping work were responsible for towing and marshalling aircraft.

Qantas, however, does not expect delays and said it had put a number of contingencies in place to prevent disruptions.




An estimated 5.8 million travellers will be transiting through Sydney airport from today until the end of January.

'Qantas is to blame'   
Friday's industrial action followed a six-week break, with engineers last walking off the job during Qantas's annual general meeting in October.

"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," AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy said.

"Qantas is to blame if there's any disruption to commuters over the holiday period.

"They have had six weeks to simply do what they said they would."

As Qantas made up with investors, its workers walked off the job

A year after its shareholders fired a warning shot over executive pay, Qantas' board has made up with investors. Those who help keep its planes in the skies can only hope their reunion is the next stop.

In a statement, Qantas said it had put a number of plans in place to prevent disruptions to travellers, and expected it would be able to operate its routes as planned on Friday.

"Qantas has been able to manage the impact of this [industrial action] to date and they have previously not resulted in any delays or cancellations for customers," it said.

Sydney Airport — which is set to have its busiest domestic travel day since 2019 on Friday — said it would work with Qantas to prevent disruptions to travellers.

"We will support Qantas in implementing their contingency plans to minimise the impact on passengers," a Sydney Airport spokesperson said.

More work stoppages have been planned by the union if it is unable to reach an agreement with the airline, with another strike action set to be held next Friday, December 20.