School holidays flight disruption fear as QantasLink staff threaten action

Qantas is attempting to halt planned industrial action by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) next week. The scheduled 24-hour strike action on Thursday is set to impact QantasLink flights departing from Sydney and freight services, potentially affecting travelers heading to certain regional areas. School holidays have commenced in Queensland, Victoria, and the Northern Territory.

The industrial action involves around 650 employees, with most working for Qantas Freight and a smaller number servicing QantasLink flights at Sydney Airport. These workers do not handle Qantas mainline or international services, nor do they work for QantasLink at other airports.

Qantas has devised contingency plans to mitigate any effects on QantasLink customers and operations in case the industrial action occurs. The company remains committed to reaching an agreement with Qantas Ground Services employees that includes annual pay increases. The TWU's National Secretary, Michael Kaine, cautioned that workers were not considering the action lightly.

He held Qantas management responsible for disruptions to freight, including Australia Post shipments, citing the union's dissatisfaction with customer and workforce treatment. Kaine blamed increasing casualization and insecure work for ground crew safety failures, a claim Qantas denies.

The TWU's action follows a fatal incident involving a Qantas Freight worker over a year ago on Father's Day. Kaine asserts that Qantas continues to fragment its workforce to reduce wages and weaken conditions, describing it as "corporate greed on steroids" that harms customer service quality and safe, reliable jobs for workers. Qantas maintains that discussions with the Fair Work Commission have been productive and negotiations are ongoing, with a focus on an agreement addressing employees' concerns about pay and full-time opportunities.