Herald Sun Nov 6 2012SIX aircraft engineers complained about the...

Herald Sun Nov 6 2012

SIX aircraft engineers complained about the safety of doors on Qantas-owned planes as part of a subversive campaign for better pay, a court has ruled.

The engineers reported in October 2010 that cockpit locks on Dash 8 planes, operated by Qantas subsidiary Sunstate Airlines, could be opened with an ice-cream stick or a rolled-up boarding pass.

They also noted the cockpit door could be opened by leaning against an adjacent toilet wall.

Almost the entire fleet of aircraft was temporarily grounded.

Each of the engineers received a Qantas letter later that month, accusing them of misconduct over claims the complaints were part of unauthorised union action.

Qantas said there were no safety issues with the doors and that workers were simply using the alleged "defects" to bargain for more money.

The men were stood down for 13 weeks while an investigation was conducted.

They later started working again, but each was docked four hours' pay over the incident and had an official warning letter placed on their permanent records.

The men, through the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, took the matter to the Federal Court in Brisbane in September last year.

They argued Qantas should be fined for breaching the federal Fair Work Act.

However, in the judgment, Justice John Logan dismissed the application, finding the engineers' actions "were not the acts of men faithful to their trade responsibilities".

"It is subversive of such a culture and antithetical to the public interest for what are, in reality, industrial actions to be cloaked as aviation safety issues," Judge Logan said.