Early on Thursday 16 July, Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) members staged coordinated pickets at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth airports accusing ground-handling firm Swissport and its major client Qantas of driving a “race to the bottom” on pay, safety and job security. The union alleges that since Qantas illegally outsourced some 1,700 ramp and baggage jobs to Swissport in 2020, injury rates have risen and training standards declined. TWU national secretary Michael Kaine told media that workers continue to report “near misses, torn ligaments and chronic understaffing”, while casual rosters make it impossible to retain experienced staff. Swissport rejects the claims, saying recordable injuries have fallen 56 % under its safety regime and that fewer than 10 % of its workforce belong to the union. Thursday’s protests caused minor delays to baggage unloading and aircraft pushback during the morning wave, with Qantas advising customers to allow extra time. No flights were cancelled, but corporate travel managers warned of potential knock-on effects during the busy winter-holiday period. At the heart of the dispute lies the Fair Work Commission-ordered enterprise bargaining process set to begin later this year. The TWU wants commitments to convert long-term casuals to permanent roles, limit split shifts and guarantee staffing ratios around high-risk tasks such as loading wide-body aircraft. Swissport argues that flexible resourcing is essential for a post-Covid industry still operating below 2019 volumes. For mobility teams moving staff in and out of Australia, the episode underscores ongoing industrial-relations volatility across the aviation supply chain. Experts say companies should monitor planned bargaining dates and build buffer time into itineraries for essential fly-in-fly-out assignments. They also recommend ensuring travellers carry priority-tagged or smart-tracked luggage to mitigate any ground-handling slow-downs if further action escalates.
Source: Australian Aviation
