Qantas Engineers Get a 5 Per Cent One-Time Bonus

19th Jan 2016

Australian Qantas Airways and its engineers have finally concluded their long contract negotiations (lasted 6 months).

According to the deal the two sides made, all 100 Qantas engineers will receive a one-time bonus of 5 per cent to their paycheck. On the other hand, the engineers have agreed to an 18-month pay freeze. The freeze will be backdated to 1st July, 2015 and will end on 31st December, 2016.

In addition to the one-time payoff of 5 per cent, the engineers will also get a 1.5 per cent pay rise on 1st January, 2017, as well as another pay rise of 3 per cent on 1st July that same year.

With the engineers, this amounts to 10,000 Qantas employees, out of a total of 28,000 that have accepted that their pay be frozen for 18 months. The deal with the engineers was the 24th such agreement signed by Qantas workers.

Qantas is set to spend around $90 million to pay the 5 per cent bonus to its workforce, with the average amount per worker being $3200. This, however, does not include the top brass and executives, who had their pay frozen since December 2013.

Jetstar staff will also get the one-time bonus, as the accountants from Qantas have billed it as a non-recurring cost recognized in the Qantas Group's 2016 financial year.

The Enterprise Agreement 10 was introduced in 2014 by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce amidst the mounting losses suffered by the Australian carrier. In addition to the pay freeze, Qantas also sacked a total of 5000 people in order to return to profitability.

The engineers' union, Professionals Australia has given a green light for the deal between Qantas and its 100 engineers.