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SYDNEY - The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) today confirmed news reports that Qantas was scouting for aircraft engineers in New Zealand amid concerns of strike action from their current workers.
The airline did not deny that it was drafting an alternative engineering workforce, or the union's claims of the $100,000 salaries on offer.
"We are pursuing a variety of contingency arrangements to ensure our passengers can travel with confidence in January," a company spokesman said.
"We have nothing further to add at this stage."
Qantas is offering its former engineers, some made redundant as little as a year ago, jobs as strike breakers with a $114,025 salary for just six months work, a union says.
The former workers were also being told they would be paid even if the strikes threatened by the ALAEA did not eventuate, the ALAEA said.
The news comes ahead of crucial talks between the airline and the ALAEA on January 4 over a protracted pay dispute, and threats of nationwide four-hour stop work meetings from January 9 if the union's pay rise demand is not met.
An ALAEA spokesman today said the airline was preparing to pay out millions of dollars to strike breakers, offering more than double pay for six months work, while denying its existing workforce a five per cent raise.
The airline has a rival offer of three per cent on the table.
"Qantas has been contacting people who were retrenched last year," ALAEA spokesman Steve Re said today.
"A (engineer) mate of mine rang me up on Friday saying he had been contacted by an agency who has work in Sydney for ... $100,000 for six months.
"Then I had a phone call on our answering machine this morning from another ex-Sydney heavy maintenance employee who was retrenched last year.
"He said `I've just been offered $100,000 to work for Qantas for six months and they said they will pay even if they're not used'."
Mr Re said a ballot of ALAEA members showed an overwhelming 87 per cent were in support of the phased industrial action if there was no resolution at the January 4 meeting.
It would involve up to 1700 aircraft engineers nationwide, he said, starting with a ban on overtime when engineers would also not work outside of their normal duties.
"The (four-hour) stop works are only if Qantas takes adverse action against any of our members for partaking in that protected industrial action," Mr Re said.
The nationwide stop work meetings have the potential to temporarily ground all Qantas flights, as their jets can only take off once they have been cleared by a licensed engineer.
It threatens to be largest disruption to the nation's air travel since the 1989 pilots' strike, which threw thousands of holiday makers' plans into chaos.
