Qantas urges engineers to call off strike

SYDNEY: Australian airline Qantas on Thursday urged unions to call off strike action planned for next week as it worked to lay on bigger aircraft and boost staff at airports to minimise disruption.

Engineers have threatened to begin rolling two-hour work stoppages from the start of school holidays on Monday in Melbourne, with Perth due to follow on Tuesday, Brisbane the next day and other cities expected to be included.

The industrial action, prompted by a dispute over wages and conditions, includes a ban on all overtime for the foreseeable future for the union's 1,600 members.

Qantas Group operations executive Lyell Strambi said the union's wage claims and demands that there be no change to current work practices were unreasonable.

"Most people are surprised that the union is going on strike over the school holidays and while services are still being impacted by the volcanic ash cloud (from Chile)," he said.

"If the union is serious about not disrupting the travel plans of Australians then they should call off the strikes immediately.

"We want to reach an agreement with our licensed engineers, and are willing to negotiate reasonable increases in pay and conditions, but we simply cannot agree to all of the union's demands."

He said the airline would put on larger Boeing 767 aircraft on some routes in and out of Melbourne on Monday to ensure most customers remain on scheduled services.

Others would be moved onto flights within 15 minutes of their original departure time, he added.

The strike action comes after the airline suffered multi-million dollar losses from widespread cancellations caused by ash from Chile's Puyehue volcano this month.

Qantas had already lost almost Aus$200 million ($215 million) due to flooding and cyclones in Australia earlier this year, an earthquake in New Zealand and the March 11 quake and tsunami in Japan.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011