I think some of the claims in the media are being misrepresented, I don't believe it is about cutting pax entitlements, but rather reducing the weight of individual bags ..... And you'd have to agree that handling perhaps a minimum of 1000 bags on a normal shift, there is going to be body fatigue, so reducing the maximum weight of a single piece of luggage to 20kg may help to allieviate this - particularly in non containerised aircraft, where the loaders are on hands and knees in the hold. Also, with non containerised aircraft, the luggage is handled at least three times - from the belt to trolley, from the trolley to loader, from the loader to be positioned in the hold. Containerised is just the once - belt to container.
The piece on ACA tonight was interesting with Tracy swinging a 32kg bag single handedly. I'm sure we could all do this .... but try doing it 20 or 30 times in succession to get a feel for what a whole shift would be like.
Plenty of for's and against's, but I think the motivation behind the idea has to be reported for what it is - an attempt to reduce workplace injury - rather than as an opportunity for the airlines to cut pax entitlements. It would just mean, if for example you were a QF Club member travelling economy, that you take 2 bags to make up the 30kg allowance. If you're First class, as the example has been in the media, you currently can't take your 40kg allowance in one bag (32 is the max accepted), so you take 2 bags.
Granted, it would take the "its all about me" travelling public some time to adjust - however the vast majority of pax who can read and understand their T&C and are quite happy to comply with a minimum of fuss would not have too many dramas.
So, there you go, an attempt to "balance" the argument!
Cheers
Prado.