[Source: AAP Image/Dave Hunt]

Qantas engineers plan to strike in Sydney, coinciding with the NSW school holidays and the lead-up to the NRL grand final, as they step up their fight for better pay.

Many workers will stay at home on Monday as their union pushes for a 15 per cent pay rise in the first year of a new enterprise agreement, followed by five per cent each year after that.

On Thursday, strike action by Qantas engineers in Melbourne threatened disruptions ahead of Saturday’s AFL Grand Final, but the airline said customers weren’t affected.

Qantas says it has contingencies in place for the next round of industrial action taking place at the start of school holidays and days ahead of the NRL Grand Final on Sunday, October 6.

Australian Workers’ Union national secretary Paul Farrow said there was no “strategy” behind the timing of Monday’s strike, following four months of negotiations.

He sympathised with Qantas passengers who might face delays.

“It’s completely understandable but that’s a problem for Qantas, not a problem for our members, because our members only have a window to negotiate their wages and that’s when their agreement expires,” he said on Friday.

“Anyone that’s got any frustrations, please take it up with Qantas.”

He described the airline’s offer, of an annual three per cent pay rise, as a “slap in the face” particularly after wage freezes and redundancies during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our members are asked to share the pain when the company’s going through tough times, and they do,” Mr Farrow said.

“When the company starts turning around billion dollar profits and the employees say, ‘well now times are good’ … the response is no.”

Qantas made a net profit of $1.25 billion in the 2023/24 financial year, down 28 per cent from the previous year.

About 1100 aircraft maintenance workers, which is about 45 per cent of the airline’s engineers, are covered by the agreement under negotiation.

No further industrial action is taking place in Melbourne over the long weekend and Qantas said it does not expect any delays or cancellations.

“Qantas customers continue to be unaffected by industrial action from some of our maintenance engineers,” a spokesperson said on Friday.

Some 300,000 people are transiting through airports in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane ahead of the AFL Grand Final on Saturday, according to the Tourism and Transport Forum.

Victorian Minister for Sport Steve Dimopoulos on Friday said Qantas and Virgin Australia had to put on about 40 extra flights to accommodate passengers travelling from Brisbane and Sydney to Melbourne for the AFL Grand Final.