21 Aug 2008

Engineers agree to Qantas pay offer

9:18 pm on 21 August 2008

Qantas engineers in Australia have resolved their pay dispute with the airline, ending months of industrial turmoil.

The union's members have agreed to the airline's base 3% pay offer.

Qantas has posted a full year profit of nearly $1.2 billion, a 35%increase on last year's results, but the airline says the dispute has cost it money.

Steve Purvinas of Australia's Aircraft Engineers Association says 94% of the union's members were happy with the deal.

"We've been in dispute with the airline over the difference between 3% per annum and 5% per annum," he says.

"What we've done is come to an outcome where the airline has kept intact the headline 3% wage rise, but there's been some changes to our wage classifications structure that sees all of our members get a minimum of 4% increase in remuneration per annum, up to 5.8% per annum."