Obviously some of the people posting here have never had a back injury. Back injuries are often likely to reoccur, and not unusual to be damaged permanently. If so, these people would be supporting what the TWU wants, until Qantas get better equipment. Remember, that's what they're saying, its the lack of training and equipment by Qantas, if Qantas had invested in more specialised equipment and better training, it may not be an issue now. The other thing to remember is thats its not just the weight that causes back injuries, the repetitive motion of lifting and twisting is a big cause of back pain, so something doesn't necessarily need to be heavy to cause damage either.
That ACA story tonight was disgraceful, a good reason to turn off that show in future. Tracy simply wouldn't listen to fact. And that suitcase can't have had 20kg in it, as if an 8 year old could lift that weight so effortlessly! And Tracey did surprising well with the 32kg...
Anyway, long story short, these guys aren't soft, the fact is if you've had a bad back injury you wouldn't wish it upon your worst enemy.