By The Guardian (World News) | Created at 2024-09-29 21:25:10 | Updated at 2024-09-30 03:34:48
6 hours ago
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Qantas engineers to strike during peak-hour flights
Qantas workers are set to escalate industrial action as aircraft-towing engineers prepare to walk off the job during peak-hour flights to secure better pay, AAP reports.
More than 1000 engineers will stage walkouts today as union members push for a 15% rise in the first year of a new enterprise agreement, followed by 5% increases in subsequent years.
Flights between 7am and 9am at major airports in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth will “likely be affected”, the Qantas Engineers’ Alliance said in a statement yesterday.
A Qantas spokesperson said that 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.”
We have contingencies in place and don’t expect Monday’s planned strike action to have an impact on customers, or their travel plans.
About 1100 aircraft maintenance workers, which is about 45% of the airline’s engineers, are covered by the agreement under negotiation. Workers have been in negotiations since April, while their enterprise agreement expired at the end of June.
Qantas made a net profit of $1.25bn in the 2023/24 financial year, down 28% from the previous year.
Bankstown line officially closed for Metro upgrades
As we just flagged, the T3 train line from Bankstown to Sydenham has officially closed for Metro upgrades.
Here are some photos from the scene at Bankstown station, with buses beginning to replace trains ahead of peak-hour traffic:
And in other traffic news, the overnight XPT from Melbourne to Sydney is 50 minutes delayed.
Welcome
Emily Wind
Good morning, and welcome to a new week on the Australia news live blog. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be taking you through our live coverage this Monday.
The T3 train line from Bankstown to Sydenham in Sydney has officially closed today for Metro upgrades. We’ll keep an eye on any delays or impacts this morning as peak-hour traffic begins, but in the meantime, Mostafa Rachwani has the latest below:
Meanwhile, Qantas workers are set to escalate industrial action as aircraft-towing engineers prepare to walk off the job during peak-hour flights to secure better pay.
As AAP reports, more than 1,000 engineers will stage walkouts today as union members push for a 15% pay rise in the first year of a new enterprise agreement, followed by 5% increases in subsequent years.
Flights between 7am and 9am at major airports in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth will “likely be affected”, the Qantas Engineers’ Alliance said in a statement yesterday.
As always, you can read out with any tips, feedback or questions via X, @emilywindwrites, or you can send me an email: emily.wind@theguardian.com.
Let’s get started.
