Australian Travelers Alerted to Possible Flight Disruptions Due to Qantas Engineers' Strike
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Sydney, Dec 13 (NationPress) Travelers in Australia have been alerted to potential flight disruptions on Friday as a significant number of Qantas engineers across the nation initiated strike action over a salary disagreement with the airline.
Approximately 500 engineers at Australia’s five busiest airports—Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth—began their walkout at 3:30 a.m. local time on Friday and are scheduled to return at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.
This strike followed the collapse of pay negotiations between Qantas and various trade unions representing the engineers, as reported by Xinhua news agency.
The unions indicated that the strike would likely have an immediate effect on flights at the five major airports.
A Qantas spokesperson stated that the airline has implemented several contingency measures to mitigate delays.
The engineers, responsible for tasks such as towing and marshalling aircraft, are demanding an immediate 15 percent salary increase, followed by a 5 percent annual raise.
In contrast, Qantas proposed a 3 percent wage increase annually for three years.
Friday marks the beginning of Australia’s six-week summer travel season, with an estimated 13.5 million passengers anticipated to travel through capital city airports during this period.
Over 80,000 domestic travelers were expected to either depart from or arrive at Sydney Airport on Friday, marking its busiest day for domestic travel since 2019.
In October, Australia’s flag carrier and largest airline was ordered by a Federal Court in Sydney to compensate 1,700 employees who were unlawfully terminated during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the court ruling, Qantas is required to provide varying amounts of compensation to these former ground crew employees.
Justice Michael Lee stated that three “test case” workers would receive a combined total of 170,000 Australian dollars (equivalent to 114,173.2 US dollars) in compensation.
“I believe that the compensation amounts for non-economic damages adequately reflect the harm experienced by each of the three individuals in a manner that is fair, just, and rational,” he remarked.
The compensation will be limited to approximately 12 months' salary for the affected workers.
