Qantas workers vote to strike in two states
More than 2,000 Qantas engineering and maintenance workers will strike for 24 hours next Wednesday.
Workers in Sydney voted today to join Melbourne colleagues in the action, which has been called following a breakdown in talks on a new enterprise agreement.
Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten says Qantas has told the workers it will not make a pay offer until they agree to a longer working week for the next two years.
"They haven't taken this sort of coordinated strike action in 10 years," he said.
"Maintenance and engineering workers are very dedicated to their job and have a great commitment to the flying public.
"The problem is that after 10 years of low-wage outcomes Qantas is going to have to pay their engineering maintenance workforce what they're worth, which is more than asking them to give up conditions."
Maintenance and engineering workers in Brisbane will meet tomorrow to decide whether to take similar action.