Qantas sued for plan to outsource 2,000 ground crew jobs
Qantas is facing a lawsuit brought by Transport Workers Union to block the outsourcing of 2,000 ground workers.
The lawsuit will test whether the airline has breached the Fair Work Act in sacking unionised employees and bringing in sub-contracted lower paid workers.
Baggage handlers, ramp workers and cabin cleaners at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, Cairns, Townsville, Alice Springs and Canberra Airport are set to lose their jobs.
The TWU had presented an alternative proposal securing the jobs which it said would still cut costs for Qantas but the airline rejected it.
"We believe that not only is the move by Qantas management to kill off the jobs of 2,000 workers morally wrong, it is also illegal under the Fair Work Act," TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said.
The union and its legal team claims Qantas is seeking to avoid collective bargaining under the Fair Work Act by outsourcing.
"Qantas has received well over a billion dollars in public funding to keep it afloat during the pandemic. It has taken this public money and violated our laws, sacking workers and aiming to replace them with outside agencies which pay less," Kaine added.
"Workers are taking a stand against a spiteful management which pays itself bloated salaries and bonuses and then sacks workers."
Qantas contends it needs to drastically cut labour costs and outsourcing is the only way it can achieve it.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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