Qantas is handing out $1,000 thank-you payments to 27,000 of its employees, hoping to defuse a strike by some of its engineers.
Around 400 engineers from Alliance unions, responsible for tasks such as towing planes and carrying out security checks before departure, began a strike at all major airports on Friday.
Qantas said workers had been taking part in a strike since late September and contingencies were in place to address it without affecting customers.
The approximately 400 engineers on duty during the industrial action represented only a portion of the company’s total engineering workforce of about 2,600, Qantas said.
Several dozen members from various unions protested outside the Qantas annual general meeting at a Hobart hotel on Friday.
Qantas will give its 27,000 employees a $1,000 thank you payment
‘We want to send a message to Vanessa. “Today is just a taste of the kind of action our members are capable of,” said Australian Industrial Workers Union national secretary Steve Murphy, referring to Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson.
‘Industrial action is bound to be inconvenient. It’s an inconvenience for the public at times, but this time it’s an inconvenience for management who are being the stopgap solution to Qantas’ ignorance of the problem.’
Workers say they are seeking a five percent annual pay rise, with a 15 percent increase in the first year to make up for three and a half years of wage freezes.
They say Qantas has refused to increase its initial offer of three per cent per year.
Inside the meeting, Hudson told shareholders that Qantas was eager to get back to the negotiating table with the union.
‘At the moment, the union or many of its members have chosen to go on strike, but we have high hopes. “We believe there is a path toward a resolution,” he said.
“We want that because it will put more money in the hands of our people, but we also want to find that way to work better with the unions.”
The money is distributed in the hope of defusing the strike.
Qantas’ board avoided a humiliating “second strike” over executive pay at the annual general meeting after shareholders rejected the company’s 2023 pay report.
Before the meeting, 85.8 percent of votes had been cast in favor of the report and only 14.1 percent against, meaning it would obtain the 75 percent majority needed to prevent a potential spill in the board of directors.
Qantas said the group continued to see its first half trading in line with expectations, and that revenue from Jetstar’s domestic unit had exceeded earlier expectations due to stronger-than-anticipated travel demand.
Qantas forecast that at current prices it would spend $2.55 billion on fuel in the first half, down from previous guidance of $2.7 billion.
The airline noted, however, that geopolitical developments were causing continued volatility in fuel prices that could have immediate impacts should they increase or decrease.