Qantas pay dispute to be resolved by industrial umpire.
The long-running battle between Qantas and the Transport Workers Union will be resolved by compulsory arbitration, because the parties have been unable to reach agreement following referral to Fair Work Australia after the fleet grounding late last October.
QF group Executive Lyell Strambi said the TWU is “sticking by the claims that were central to the dispute, which would see the union dictate how we run our business”.
He said the latest claims by the TWU were lodged just a week ago and continue to demand unsustainable pay increases and attempt to remove the flexibility for Qantas to manage the airline.
Strambi said it was the first time since enterprise bargaining began in 1993 that Qantas will have a pay dispute resolved by compulsory arbitration, with hundreds of agreements reached satisfactorily with other employee groups.
He said the TWU, representing about 3800 ground staff, is demanding pay increases of around 10% over two years, a new pay structure and other conditions making it uncompetitive for QF to use labour hire companies.
Qantas on the other hand is offering pay increases of 3% a year over three years and “retention of the current flexibility available to Qantas”.
More information in today’s Travel Daily.