Qantas engineers vote for work bans

Professional engineers at Qantas have voted to ban overtime and out of hours
call-outs, saying the airline has brought nothing to the table during wage
negotiations.
Members of the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers,
Australia (APESMA) in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne voted in favour of the bans on
Friday.
The bans will commence in all three cities on Friday of next week.
Qantas said the union was asking for a 30 per cent pay rise over three years, which
it described as "unreasonable".
But APESMA director Catherine Bolger said the airline seemed in no hurry to resolve
the dispute quickly.
"It's interesting that they've had our claim for over five months, and they haven't
costed it until this week when we're voting on industrial action," Ms Bolger told
AAP.
"Qantas haven't yet come to the table in seven months of negotiations.
"We've had over 15 meetings and they've still not been able to respond to which
parts of our claim they'd be able to agree to and which parts they think need more
work."
Ms Bolger said the engineers had no intention of inconveniencing Qantas passengers.
"Our members don't want to take action. It's a last resort," she said.
"It just shows their depth of frustration."
However, Ms Bolger said she was encouraged by a letter sent by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce
saying he was committed to resolving the standoff.
She said the dispute was more about fatigue management and professional development
than pay increases.
"Our members are required to do work out of hours, and they may be called two or
three times a night," she said.
"It may well be that those members may only have four to five hours sleep before
they start work the next day."
One-third of work done by professional engineers, including checking planes for
airworthiness, happened outside their normal working hours, she said.