Qantas engineers will hold one-hour work stoppages from tonight as part of a four-month-long industrial campaign for better job security, reports the ABC.
Night shift workers in Sydney will start work an hour late and similar rolling action will begin in other cities from tomorrow.
According tot he ABC, industrial action campaign was announced last week after Qantas revealed it would launch two new Asian-based airlines and cut 1,000 local jobs.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association's Steve Purvinas concedes the action may cause flight delays, but told the ABC that day-shift workers will offer to work an hour's overtime to fill the gap.
He warns there are plans to continue the stoppages until mid-December.
"We've been negotiating for 12 months, and Qantas comes to the table time and time again [but] they're not interested in progressing negotiations," he reporteldy said."We went through [an] experience three years ago that the only way to actually get somewhere with this mob is if you actually put a line in the sand and say 'well, that's it, we need an agreement from you'. And that's when we get results."
Mr Purvinas told the ABC taht some passengers could find their flights delayed.
"We would like to think that there would be no effect on flights at all - that's if Qantas accepts our offer to use the strike-breakers that come from our membership," he said."But they may unwisely elect to leave that one-hour vacant of any staff checking the safety of their aircraft, and that could lead to delays to services."
Meanwhile Qantas ground staff and baggage handlers have voted for industrial action as early as next week as part of their campaign.
Yesterday, Qantas posted a full-year net profit of $250 million, double that of last year.
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