Around 300 Qantas engineers will walk off the job Wednesday morning for 24 hours over a pay dispute.
In Melbourne, engine components maintenance engineers at Tullamarine Airport put tools down from 9am, while heavy maintenance engineers in Brisbane began striking at 1.30am.
Rallies are also expected to take place at both airports.
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The Qantas Engineers’ Alliance – a union alliance including the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Electrical Trades Union and the Australian Workers Union – is pushing for a wage claim of five per cent a year, with a 15 per cent first-year increase.
This would compensate for three and a half years of wage freezes and serve as an industry catch-up payment.
The alliance said Qantas management refused to return to the bargaining table and increase previous offers.
“Union members are voting overwhelmingly to escalate our industrial activities,” Australian Workers’ Union national secretary Steve Murphy.
“This is because every time there is a problem at Qantas, the executives ignore it and just hope that it will go away – well, we’re not going anywhere.”
Qantas believed the industrial action would not impact flights or customers at the two airports.
“There’s been some industrial action by engineers since late September and so far we’ve been able to successfully ensure it hasn’t resulted in any flight delays or cancellations,” a Qantas spokesperson said.