Qantas med tøffe tiltak - Ledere må shnjaue bagasje - Australian Aviation

 

QANTAS EXECS ASKED TO WORK AS BAGGAGE HANDLERS

written by Hannah Dowling | August 8, 2022

 

Qantas has reportedly called on its upper management and executives to roll up their sleeves and work as baggage handlers under a three-month “contingency program” to battle staff shortages and flight disruption.

Notably, it comes after Qantas outsourced 2,000 of its in-house ground handlers last year, in a decision that the Federal Court later ruled was done in partial violation of the Fair Work Act and subsequently rejected Qantas’ application to appeal. The airline has filed a second appeal and the case is ongoing.

It also comes as baggage handlers at third-party service Dnata, now contracted to complete Qantas’ ground services, prepare to vote on strike action amid ongoing disputes over pay and working conditions with management.

 

According to a report by The Australian, up to 100 senior managers at Qantas are now being asked to volunteer to support ground staff, with duties including scanning and sorting passenger baggage, driving tugs, and loading bags onto aircraft.

“During your time in the contingency program, you’ll be an embedded resource within the ground handling partners,” chief operating officer Colin Hughes said in an internal note to staff about the program.

“This means you’ll receive a roster, be scheduled to operate, and be supervised and managed in the live operations by our ground handling partners.”

Hughes added that there would be “no expectation” that staff would opt into the role on top of their usual full-time duties.

“We’ve been clear that our operational performance has not been meeting our customers’ expectations or the standards that we expect of ourselves,” a Qantas spokesperson said.

“While we manage the impacts of a record flu season and ongoing COVID-19 cases coupled with the tightest labour market in decades, we’re continuing that contingency planning across our airport operations for the next three months.”