Thurs "Sydney Morning Herald"
Qantas win on casual jobs
By Brad Norington, Industrial Editor
August 21, 2003
Qantas last night frustrated union efforts to stop the airline hiring baggage handlers on casual labour hire contracts, after a day in which flights were seriously disrupted for the second time in 24 hours.
The airline won the legal right to use 12 contract workers trained in a secret location as baggage handlers, as part of orders by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
The Transport Workers Union was also ordered to cease industrial action at Melbourne Airport after its baggage handlers had refused to work alongside contractors that Qantas introduced.
Qantas yesterday confirmed it had trained company managers in Los Angeles as strike-breakers in anticipation of industrial trouble when the airline sought to replace permanent staff with casual workers.
It is believed that up to 40 Qantas managers have been specially trained in Los Angeles to operate ramp equipment and handle baggage in Melbourne.
Qantas is refusing to deny a further union claim that trained managers were kept on ice yesterday at the Hilton Hotel at Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport, awaiting a call to work if a strike erupted.
Qantas managers yesterday helped move baggage when the union refused to work alongside three casual contract workers employed by the Blue Collar labour hire firm.
In the disruption caused as the Transport Workers Union blocked access to baggage areas, dozens of Qantas flights were delayed around the country and the airline's schedule thrown into turmoil.
At this stage, Qantas wants to use up to 14 contract workers from Blue Collar, most of whom are still being trained at a secret location in Melbourne.
The Blue Collar workforce has also been signed up as TWU members, although the union regards them as union busters.
Qantas's chief executive, Geoff Dixon, is determined to introduce a casual workforce in addition to permanent employees to gain a more flexible use of his workforce and to cut overtime costs. That would give Mr Dixon more power to hire or lay off casual staff at will, according to demand.
But unions claim that Qantas has a broader agenda to undermine permanent employment across the airline by putting a large proportion on casual employment.
The union's Victorian secretary, Bill Noonan, said the airline was being highly provocative because it was hiring a new casual workforce at the same time as permanent employees were being made redundant.
Under last night's commission ruling, Qantas can employ at most 12 contract workers until at least Friday next week for a maximum of 25 hours a week in "isolated" work stations.
The commission also declared that the union's bans over the past two days were "illegitimate".
Qantas's executive general manager of human resources, Kevin Brown, said last night he was delighted with the ruling.
Mr Brown said it was "totally in line" with Qantas's plans to make the airline more flexible and competitive at domestic and international levels.
Qantas denies it has a target level of casual employment in mind for its workforce, although one draft document relating to Sydney baggage handlers would allow up to 45 per cent on casual contracts.
Unions also claim that casual employment is an excuse for companies such as Qantas to escape entitlements such as holiday leave and sick pay.
The battle over contract labour comes on the eve of today's Qantas profit result and an announcement on restructuring the airline into separate divisions.
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