Qantas engineers have vowed to begin industrial action next week after their union failed to resolve a pay dispute with the airline in crucial talks.

Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association's federal secretary Steve Purvinas told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) while some progress had been made during the discussions, the union had officially informed Qantas that industrial action would commence at midnight on January 9.

"We at this stage are limiting the action solely to overtime restrictions," Purvinas said.

"Guys will not come in on their day off to help the airline out. But we're hopeful that negotiations will continue and we've called for a meeting prior to the ninth, so we're hoping we can possibly resolve the matter before then."

The union is demanding a five percent pay rise for up to 1,700 engineers nationwide, but the airline is offering only a three percent increase.

MELBOURNE, Jan 4 (Bernama) -- Qantas engineers have vowed to begin industrial action next week after their union failed to resolve a pay dispute with the airline in crucial talks.

Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association's federal secretary Steve Purvinas told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) while some progress had been made during the discussions, the union had officially informed Qantas that industrial action would commence at midnight on January 9.

"We at this stage are limiting the action solely to overtime restrictions," Purvinas said.

"Guys will not come in on their day off to help the airline out. But we're hopeful that negotiations will continue and we've called for a meeting prior to the ninth, so we're hoping we can possibly resolve the matter before then."

The union is demanding a five percent pay rise for up to 1,700 engineers nationwide, but the airline is offering only a three percent increase.

The union has vowed to call four-hour stop-work meetings if Qantas takes action against any union members for partaking in industrial action.

Such meetings would potentially ground all Qantas flights, because jets cannot take off until they have been cleared by a licensed engineer.

Head of Qantas engineering David Cox said the overtime restrictions would cause "minimal to no disruption" to passengers.

"All our services will be operating as normal," Cox told ABC radio.

Purvinas said Qantas agreed to drop a bid to limit the arbitration powers of the Industrial Relations Commission and also showed some flexibility over plans to casualise some of its workforce.

But the company was immovable on plans to reclassify some engineers, he said.

Source :- BERNAMA