Qantas engineers to strike daily until Christmas
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Qantas’ engineers union has announced plans to strike for one hour every weekday from 25 August until Christmas. The move by the Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) follows the breakdown of talks with the airline late last week. ALAEA is unhappy with the wages being offered by the Australian airline, and said it was “left under the impression” that up to 198 engineers would be made redundant as a result of Qantas’ new five-year restructuring strategy, which it announced last week. ALAEA added that other union engineers would be encouraged to work overtime – with overtime pay – to cover the stoppages, in an effort to “prevent disruption of Qantas flights”. The airline hit back at the union however, calling its actions “blatantly cynical and ridiculous”. “If the union is serious about not disrupting the travel plans of Australians then they should call off the strikes immediately,” said Olivia Wirth, Qantas group executive. “No Australian company would accept this. What incentive would the union have to reach an agreement with workers earning significantly more money while on strike?”. Qantas has faced a barrage of accusations from both engineers’ and pilots’ unions since announcing its new international strategy. The carrier admitted that the restructuring would come at the cost of approximately 1,000 jobs, but has firmly denied that any jobs would be ‘offshored’ to Asian countries. The airline has urged ALAEA to return to the negotiating table.
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