HUNDREDS OF QANTAS GROUND WORKERS TO STRIKE AGAINST JOYCE-ERA TACTICS

Qantas workers across the country will take a stand for jobs, safety and a healthy industry, when they strike for 24 hours next week, on Wednesday in Victoria and Thursday for the rest of the country.

The workers at the heart of the dispute are the last remaining Qantas ground workers, working across freight and QantasLink services, after 1800 of their colleagues were illegally outsourced during the COVID pandemic.

Qantas’ underhanded conduct of dividing its workforce among multiple subsidiaries has splintered the aviation workforce, draining experience from airports and leading to dangerously unsafe standards for both workers and the travelling public. A Qantas Freight worker was tragically killed on Father’s Day last year.

For weeks, subsidiaries such as Qantas Ground Services (QGS) and Australian air Express (AaE) have frustrated good faith attempts to bring pay and job security in line with industry standards, and to consolidate work groups under the same Qantas banner.

TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said:

“Old habits die hard and the same despicable Alan Joyce tactic of splintering the Qantas workforce has been dusted off by the new bosses who want to suppress wages and smash conditions. This is corporate greed on steroids and it comes at the expense of quality service for customers, and safe, reliable jobs for the workforce.

“Qantas will tell you that it has changed, but workers and passengers know better: this is an industry in crisis. In Sydney planes are almost colliding, critical services are horrendously understaffed, and workers are being killed and injured.

“This action comes just over a year after a Qantas Freight worker was tragically killed on Father’s Day, with Qantas taking no concrete steps to fix a revolving door of casual, insecure work which has led to shocking safety failures.

“Workers do not take this action lightly. Any disruption to freight, including Australia Post shipments sits solely at the feet of Qantas management and its brutal disregard for customers and the workforce.

“These workers have been left with no alternative. Right across the Qantas supply chain, workers are being injured or killed by just doing their jobs. They want to see a return to when working for the flying kangaroo was something to be proud of.”