• 

  Qantas

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  QF/QFA

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Brisbane Airport, Melbourne Airport, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport

  Year Founded:

  1920

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  CEO:

  Alan Joyce

  Country:

  Australia

Passengers of Qantas on international flights are likely to have their flights canceled and delayed, and their checked-in baggage not loaded, as hundreds of the airline's ground staff, contracted from Dnata, are set to go on strike on September 12th. The industrial walkout will seemingly last for about 24 hours and will include approximately 350 ground handlers from Adelaide, Brisbane, and Sydney airports.

Majority voted yes

The ongoing saga between Dnata and the Transport Workers Union has continued for several months, beginning with the typical negotiations between the two parties. The union, which represents the ground handlers, has repeatedly claimed that the Australian flag carrier's requirements for a ground handling company with the lowest cost have caused Dnata not to provide fair wages and even scale back on overtime rates.

Claims about Qantas' requirements of ground handling companies also included the many competitors against Dnata, such as Swissport and Menzies Aviation. It has become a constant battle between the outsourced companies to please Qantas with the lowest operating costs by any means possible. Unfortunately, this has allegedly resulted in unsafe practices and overworked ground staff cutting corners and reducing expenses.

In response, Dnata had previously said that its salary offers were already highly competitive, but the Transport Workers Union and the ground staff severely disagreed. Michael Kaine, the union's national secretary, said:

"Dnata needs to show more respect to the critical workers and must act responsibly and come back to the table to settle a fair deal or risk losing more staff. We need to rebalance aviation towards good, secure jobs that keep skilled workers in the industry and ensure the safety of the traveling public."

Turbulent conditions ahead

As talks between the two parties continued to reach unsatisfactory conclusions, the Transport Workers Union called for a vote on strike action, with voting lasting five days. Unsurprisingly, most of the polled workers, accounting for about 96%, voted yes to walking off the job for a day.

Previously, the Transport Workers Union had said that mounting a strike is considered a last resort if all forms of negotiations have failed. Kaine further re-emphasizes this point by saying:

“Qantas management’s strategy to dictate low wages and conditions from afar has turned once sought-after aviation careers into insecure jobs no one can afford to stay in. For many, it’s now a choice between going on strike for decent conditions or being forced to leave the industry.”

Despite being predicted to last only for 24 hours, an industrial walkout of any scale will cause severe disruptions to flight operations. And the upcoming strike will prove no different, as it will primarily impact international operations with knock-on effects on domestic travel.

Bottom line

The strike action will knowingly worsen the already-bad situation within the Australian aviation industry, which has seen less than 55% of flights depart on time in July and several flight cancellations across Australian carriers as they struggle with workforce shortages and soaring passenger demand.

Unfortunately, it seems like no miraculous negotiations or deal-breakers would be enough to call off the industrial walkout on September 12th. While it will hinder Qantas' flight operations, it will ultimately be more inconvenient for passengers. Perhaps, passengers might consider sticking to carry-ons if possible.

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Source: Australian Aviation