FED: Unions walk off the job for second day at Qantas
SYDNEY, Feb 1 AAP - Qantas maintenance workers in Sydney have walked off the job fora second day after the airline stood down up to 100 workers for refusing to do overtime.
Australian Workers Union (AWU) organiser Matt Thistlewaite said a stopwork meetingwas held at the Sydney Airport jet base today and 800 workers had gone on strike for 24hours.
About 600 workers workers walked off the job yesterday for 24-hours.
Mr Thistlewaite said the dispute was over a decision by Qantas yesterday to stand downup to 100 workers for refusing to work overtime.
"The guys have walked off the job again and we're going to the industrial commissionto have these stand-downs declared illegal," he said.
A hearing in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) in Melbourne hasbeen listed for 11am (AEDT).
Flight schedules have not been affected by the action.
Maintenance workers at Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport are not involved in the action.
A Qantas spokesman said the airline yesterday had stood aside 15 workers in Sydneyand nine in Melbourne, but late yesterday the matter escalated with at least 100 stoodaside.
The spokesman said the workers had not been "stood down".
He said the matter would be discussed in the AIRC.
Maintenance unions have had overtime bans in place as part of a wider dispute overthe airline's push for workers to accept a wage freeze.
AAP nd/sal/las/bwl
KEYWORD: QANTAS STRIKE 2ND DAYLEAD
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