Unions Warn Qantas Flight Disruptions Likely Until Christmas

Although the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) cancelled on Monday its planned four-hour strikes, Qantas's labor problems with unions are far from over.

ALAEA added another approach to protest Qantas policies over salaries and work conditions by urging passengers to buy tickets from other air carriers because more flight disruptions are on the way for Qantas travelers until Christmas.

"If I was a person considering travel over the period up until Christmas I'd probably be looking at airlines other than Qantas because it's likely there will be some disruptions," ALAE Federal Secretary Steve Purvinas said in a statement.

Qantas group executive Olivia Wirth said she was surprised by Mr Purvinas' comments.

"This is one of the most outrageous and damaging attacks ever made by a union official.... Telling customers not to fly with Qantas for the next three months will make the jobs of out 1,600 licensed engineers less secure and will not get the union any closer to an agreement," Ms Wirth said in a statement.

Although the union cancelled the Monday job walk-off at Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane at the last minute, it rescheduled the industrial action for Friday. Besides the Friday strike, Mr Purvinas said the engineers will hold full-day strikes in the next three weeks until the Qantas Oct. 28 general meeting.

However, like the 11^th-hour cancellation of the baggage handlers and ground crew strike by the Transport Workers Union, the move was too late because Qantas had by that time cancelled on Monday 40 flights and delayed or moved another 38 flights which affected 11,000 passengers.

"What this means is that they've done the disruption to the Qantas brand, they've done the disruption to the Qantas passengers; however, their workers have not been docked on cent," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Ms Wirth.

The work stoppages are the union's way of pressuring Qantas to stop its Asian expansion plans in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. Qantas ordered 11 jets from Airbus for the planned new hub and another 99 for Jetstar.

However, even Jetstar employees have launched moves against Qantas by waiving excess baggage fees for 24 hours on Friday morning at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Gold Coast after talks over a new agreement bogged down. The excess baggage fees will be waived from 3:30 a.m. of Friday until 3:30 a.m. of Saturday.

The excess baggage fee holiday is expected to cost Qantas $50,000 in lost income.