Qantas Maintenance Workers To Strike.

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*Qantas workers reject wage freeze*

Qantas maintenance workers in Sydney have voted to embark on industrial action to demonstrate their opposition to management's call for a wage freeze.

The workers have voted overwhelmingly for a 48-hour strike from midnight next Monday and to conduct rolling stoppages there after.

Qantas maintenance workers in Melbourne have overwhelmingly endorsed the motions passed by their colleagues in Sydney.

National Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Doug
Cameron, says the workers are pushing on with their claim for a pay increase as part of a new enterprise agreement.

"This is a clear message to Qantas that these are low paid workers prepared to fight for a decent wage increase," he said.

"These workers are earning between 30 and 35 thousand dollars a year.

"Qantas will have a profit next year of half a billion dollars and all our members are asking for is a moderate wage increase and some dignity on the job."

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Qantas strike on

From AAP
19nov01

A 48-HOUR strike by Qantas maintenance workers over the airline's plans to introduce a wage freeze will go ahead from midnight.

Almost 2,500 workers will walk off the job tomorrow and Wednesday in protest at a company proposal to freeze wages across the airline.

This could be followed later in the week with strike action by a further 8,500 workers from the Australian Services Union (ASU), whose officials were meeting with Qantas today to discuss job security.

ASU Victorian branch acting assistant secretary Helja Svendsen said workers almost certainly would walk off the job if the company did not produce an agreeable package by tomorrow morning.

The maintenance workers' strike was announced last week, a day after the company revealed it would slash 2,000 jobs by Christmas.

But the action relates only to the wage freeze and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) national secretary Doug Cameron said concerns were worsening by the day.

"I think the workers are very concerned, given they are amongst the lowest paid skilled workers in Australia earning between $30,000 and $35,000 in base rate they can't afford a wage freeze or wage cut," he said.

"These are the people who ensure Qantas' reputation for safety and quality and you don't want them to be stressed at the workplace or at home.

"Qantas should really be valuing these employees far more than it does."

Qantas has said the strike action would have little to no impact on flights.

But Mr Cameron said the airline would feel the pinch in the longer term.

"It may not have any immediate effect but what it does is it starts to put behind the maintenance scheduling which will have an effect in the medium term."

A delegation from the ASU, the airline's biggest union which represents call centre and ticketing staff as well as administration workers in several other areas, has been meeting with top-level Qantas executives since Sunday over job security for its members.

A teleconference was held with delegates this morning and a further hook-up will take place tomorrow to discuss the company's offer.

Ms Svendsen said industrial action was almost certain if workers weren't satisfied by the offer.

"If there's not an acceptable package by tomorrow then we'll be taking industrial action," she said.

"Probably the most important thing is job security. It doesn't have to be that every single person who works for the company today will work for the company tomorrow.

"But there needs to be some certainty for these people that they're working in a secure environment.

"If they're being asked to take a wage freeze to produce some security then they need to have that security."