Qantas cancels 14 flights, delays 35 as transport and customs workers strike

Qantas has cancelled 14 more flights this morning and delayed 35 as the Transport Workers’ Union prepares to strike, warning the airline giant that it is prepared to continue industrial action for up to a year.

The skirmish comes just days after Qantas faced off against the engineers’ union, which threatened four-hour strikes on Monday afternoon that caused the airline to cancel and delay dozens of flights. The unions cancelled the strikes on Monday afternoon, claiming it was pressured by the company.

Qantas said yesterday that while it had already struck an agreement with the National Union of Workers, which covers employees in catering, engineering and freight services, it said negotiations with the TWU are at a standstill.

“These unions are working together in a coordinated industrial campaign with their demands attempting to give control of Qantas to the unions,” group executive of corporate affairs Olivia Wirth said in a statement.

The TWU will strike in two-hour blocks this morning and afternoon, all the way up to 8pm, Qantas says, with 6,000 passengers expected to be affected. They will be joined by Customs officers, who are also on strike this morning. Wirth says the TWU’s demands are unreasonable.

“The TWU’s claim for 15% pay increase over the next three years is just not sustainable in the current economic environment – and given Qantas workers are already the best-paid in the industry,” she said.

“In Canberra, the strikes will occur in a four-hour block from 4pm-8pm which is the conclusion of a Parliamentary sitting week and the peak time at the airport.”

The strikes come one day ahead of another bout of industrial action planned by the Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association, which has been butting heads with the airline for several months now over a proposed workplace agreement.

Meanwhile, the Australian and International Pilots Association has attacked the company, saying in an advertising campaign today that shareholders should reject the company’s new remuneration plan which will give chief executive Alan Joyce a significant pay rise.

The pilots are concerned that Qantas will be shifting some operations to a new “Red Q” brand that will operate in Southeast Asia.

“Qantas pilots are a loyal and conservative group and it is unprecedented for us to support this kind of action. However, because the future of Qantas as a strong and viable Australian airline is in jeopardy, we must act now or never.”

In response, the company has accused the various unions and pilots of acting “in a coordinated campaign” against the airline.