Qantas management says it will not give in to union demands for a 5 per cent pay rise for engineers, despite another day of major flight disruptions.

Qantas maintenance workers walked off the job today, forcing the cancellation of 35 flights across the country.

Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association spokesman Paul Cousins says unless management resumes negotiations on a new pay deal, there will be further disruption.

“The ball is in Qantas’s court. They can stop this dispute at any time by coming back to the table with a reasonable offer,” he said.

Despite record profits, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon says the airline cannot afford the pay rise.

“Next year we’re going to have our oil price increase by $2 billion,” he said.

“There’s no airline in the world that can sustain those increases.”

Qantas says it will not return to the negotiating table until the union calls off its industrial campaign.

The airline is also considering permanently moving some maintenance work to offshore bases, including Los Angeles and London.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au