Steve Purvinas, on behalf of the union representing licenced engineers of Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN), said 3 p.m. Thursday that the union is calling off the planned strike for Friday.

Qantas Airways said this morning that a planned strike by engineers has forced it to cancel 31 flights and delay another 46 services Friday morning, and warned there may be further disruption due to industrial action next week.

The Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Union early this week instructed around 1,600 members to walk off the job between 8 a.m. -9 a.m. Friday as part of industrial action for a new agreement on pay and conditions.

However, a notice by Mr. Purvinas sent this afternoon said, "A lot has been going on in the last 24 hours but we have been concerned that a number of QF planes have already been knocked out with technical difficulties. Taking action this Friday would not win us too many friends with the public and I am concerned that we may in some way be blamed for disruptions that are not of our own doing. For this reason we have decided to call off the 1 hour Friday stoppage."

Flight cancellations brought about by Friday's strike would have impact around 2,500 passengers mostly traveling within Australia, although some travelers on international flights would also be affected by delays. The strike will not affect Jetstar or QantasLink.
"The union has also notified of further industrial action on May 16 and May 17, including work stoppages and limitations on work," Qantas said in its statement this morning.

"Excessive demands"

Qantas Group Executive Operations, Lyell Strambi, that Qantas could not agree with the union's unreasonable and excessive demands. "Qantas has entered into discussions with the union in good faith and we have exhausted all avenues possible however we have been unable to make any real progress with the union," he said.

"We want to reach a fair and reasonable negotiated outcome with our workers but we will not be blackmailed by the union."
Mr. Strambi said that Qantas would accept "in a heartbeat" a request by the union for a 3.14 percent increase. However, he said that in reality the asking is for a 28.6 percent increase over three years, with further increased costs being incurred in subsequent years "bringing the real cost to above 36 percent."

"This comes at a time when the airline and aviation industry is impacted by a number of significant challenges including high fuel prices, a number of natural disasters and an underperforming international business.

Negotiating table

Qantas was engaged in conciliation talks with Licenced Engineers Association. Qantas said it has negotiated in good faith about a new enterprise bargaining agreement since September last year but has been unable to make any real progress with the union on a deal. According to Qantas on May 9, the union, ALAEA, abruptly halted conciliation talks and announced industrial action.

"We call on the union to stop disrupting Qantas passengers and return to come to the negotiating table to achieve a realistic outcome," Mr. Strambi said.