Engineers at Virgin Blue have voted to take on work bans and also possible strikes after talks between the airline and the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) broke down.
According to a report in The Age, the engineers could start industrial action with three days’ notice, which could range from overtime bans up to two day strikes, which could seriously disrupt the airline’s schedules. “At the moment our members are asked to and expected to work copious amounts of overtime to keep that airline flying,” said the union’s federal secretary Steve Purvinas.
The dispute between the airline and the union centres around changes to the scope of the engineers’ work, which now sees baggage handlers marshall aircraft and talk to pilots about defects. Virgin Blue says that talks with ALAEA are continuing.
