A 24-hour strike by workers who refuel Qantas and other international airline planes at Melbourne Airport is threatening to disrupt flights.
The industrial action from 4 a.m. on Wednesday to 4 a.m. on Thursday is a push for better pay and conditions for the workers employed by the Rivet Group, The Transport Workers Union said.
The company should respond to workers’ reasonable requests for recognition and sustainable pay and conditions to avoid disruptions to flights out of Melbourne, the union’s Victorian assistant branch secretary Mem Suleyman said.
“For a year, Rivet refuellers have tried to reach a fair agreement but have instead been faced with base wage freezes which impact their pay now and long into the future,” Suleyman said.
“In the current cost-of-living crisis, it is unacceptable to expect workers to pick up extra responsibilities and work harder, faster and longer to make ends meet.”
The workers were in one of the most dangerous jobs in the airport, yet they were being pushed to the limits while pay and conditions failed to attract more people to share the load, Suleyman said.
Industrial action was the only option left to bring the company to a fair and sustainable agreement, he said.
Rivet Aviation was “extremely disappointed” it could not reach a conclusion to discussions, and it understood that would have a detrimental impact on travellers, it said in a statement.
However, it could not agree to claims put forward by the union and continue to operate viably, it said.
“Our business has battled through COVID and struggles to be profitable today, let alone implementing the immediate 12 per cent increase in wages being demanded,” Rivet said in the statement.
“We are one of the highest paying companies in this space in terms of salaries, and like most companies, we are beholden to existing contracts with our customers who are large multi-national businesses.”
The union’s decision to strike would only ultimately see the business fail and put employees out of a job, the company said.
Rivet services major freight and passenger airlines, including Qantas, DHL, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Fiji Airways and Qatar Airways.
Qantas has a contract with ExxonMobil to provide fuel for flights out of Melbourne. The oil and gas company then subcontracts Rivet to refuel aircraft.
Qantas was not expecting any material impact to its flights on Wednesday after its operations team put in workarounds, a spokeswoman said.
The workarounds included flying a spare A380 from Sydney to Melbourne with the maximum amount of fuel it could carry and using it to fill up other aircraft.
The airline was also carrying extra fuel on flights into Melbourne to minimise the refuelling that needed to happen and make the most of the remaining refuelling capacity, including tapping into other providers.
“We have also worked closely with Melbourne Airport and other industry partners to minimise any impact on customers,” the spokeswoman said.
“Customers are advised to proceed to the airport as they normally would.”
A Melbourne Airport spokesperson said the airport would work with airlines to ensure minimal disruption to travellers.
