The ALAEA (Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association) has cancelled planned strike action for tomorrow morning, which would have seen Qantas cancel 31 flights affecting 2500 passengers and delay a further 46 flights.
“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,” ALAEA secretary Steve Purvinas wrote on his union’s website. “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 one hour Friday stoppage.”
Qantas has blasted the move, accusing Purvinas of “scaremongering”.
“This is a union tactic to maximise the disruptions to passengers and the company but costs the union members nothing,” said Qantas group executive operations, Lyell Strambi.
“The union leaders have shown their true colours and the promise of industrial action has already caused mayhem for our customers and employees, and potentially damaged our reputation. This indicates that the ALAEA is more focused on disruptive action than negotiations.”
Qantas has reinstated all 31 cancelled flights, but has warned it still faces ALAEA strike action next week.
“If the union is serious about not disrupting the airlines operations and passengers, I call on the union to cancel the strike action planned for Monday and Tuesday next week,” Strambi said
“The union’s claims about safety concerns are absolute rubbish, Mr Purvinas always likes to make these claims to scaremonger around EBA negotiations.”
