Refuelling workers begin strike at Melbourne Airport

Passengers at Melbourne Airport are bracing for journey disruption immediately after refuelling staff started a 24-hour strike.

The staff walked off the job at 4am immediately as they search a gathering with the airline and their employer, Rivet, amid an industrial dispute over pay and situations.

“Our operations team has done a great job of putting workarounds in place and at this stage we’re not expecting any material impact to our flights on Wednesday,” the airport stated in a press release yesterday.

According to Qantas, these workarounds embrace flying a spare airplane to Sydney with its most gasoline load and utilizing it to refuel different plane there, and carrying further gasoline on flights into Melbourne.

The airline contracts ExxonMobil to supply gasoline for Melbourne Airport flights, which in flip subcontracts refuelling to Rivet.

However, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) stated Qantas has the sway to impression the economic negotiations, and referred to as on the airline to fulfill with Rivet and staff amid the dispute.

“Qantas has enjoyed a $1 billion half-year profit while workers refuelling Qantas planes have not received a pay increase for nearly three years,” the letter from TWU performing department secretary Mem Suleyman to Andrew David, Qantas’ CEO of home and worldwide, learn.

“As Rivet’s major client, accounting for at least 60 per cent of the work, Qantas has the ability and responsibility to dictate through its contracts with labour providers that workers refuelling its planes are receiving fair pay and safe working conditions.

“We are writing to name on you to urgently meet with Rivet and the elected employee bargaining committee to make sure staff obtain a good bundle that may ease their rising workloads, together with manageable rosters and certainty over hours, in addition to truthful provisions for additional time and being referred to as in on a break day.”

The refuellers’ strike started at 4am immediately and, in line with the TWU, will primarily impression Qantas, freight airways Australia Air Express and DHL, and a few worldwide carriers.