GROUND staff have blown the whistle on what really goes on behind the scenes at Australia’s busiest airport — and it isn’t pretty.
Staff say they are forced to camp beside baggage carousels, sleep inside luggage containers, among rat droppings and rubbish, and hang around inside Sydney Airport for up to 15 hours a day in order to work split shifts for paltry pay, the ABC reports.
Workers from ground handling contractor Aerocare have also told of a frightening near-miss by sleep-deprived staff which saw a fully loaded Tiger Air passenger jet in Brisbane preparing for takeoff with a cargo door left wide open by mistake.
Aerocare is contracted to major airlines to provide ground support at Sydney airport, loading bags, passengers and performing safety checks.
“Its filthy, it’s cold, it’s dark, it’s just absolutely horrible,” Aerocare truck driver George Orsaris told ABC’s 730 program.
“Its definitely not conditions that people in this day an age, especially in Australia, (expect) are going on here. Its unthinkable.”
Leaked photos show makeshift beds underneath passenger terminals, where staff say they camp out between shifts because they can’t afford to go home.
“They can’t afford the fuel or the tolls,” Transport Workers Union spokesman Tony Sheldon said, claiming workers were earning as little as $1500 a month.
“This is a terrible indictment on the Australian workforce.”
Another anonymous whistleblower told the program: “We’re just getting ground down. its all about the money. It’s stopped being about people ... it’s just a means to an end.”
Aerocare has denied the allegations of poor treatment and fatigue-related safety incidents.
The company, which reportedly posted a $13 million profit last year, said in a statement it has “invested millions of dollars to improve the quality of its rostering so as to maximise the duration of shifts, with the goal of securing more contracts which would enable Aerocare to offer employees longer shifts and further viable fulltime positions.”
Aerocare chief executive Glenn Rutherford says while the company will investigate the claims, staff have access to their own lounge and he is unaware of employees sleeping between shifts in the baggage handling area.
“Aerocare does not and will not permit the ‘camping out’ that has been shown,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Baggage areas are carefully monitored and recorded by airport and Australian Border Force personnel. We have contacted both parties to confirm whether they have any record of such activity.”
Aerocare also claims Mr Orsaris was with the company for just two months before he quit last June while he was still being trained.
Aerocare says he had not worked any split shifts and had no access to the baggage handling areas that are also used by staff from other companies servicing Sydney Airport.
The claims about Aerocare have emerged as the company undertakes talks with the Transport Workers’ Union about a new pay deal.
The TWU is pushing for minimum shift hours to be extended from three hours to four hours and the removal of any obligation for staff to work split shifts. Staff are currently paid between about $21 an $27 an hour.
Mr Sheldon accused Aerocare of paying “slave wages”.
“This is being allowed to happen because airports and airlines are outsourcing work to low cost companies and not giving a damn about the workers in their supply chains that it affects,” he said in a statement.
Aerocare said staff are offered the chance to work two shifts a day when it effectively doesn’t have enough contracted work for them to make up a longer continuous shift.
It was also committed to “significant” wage increases.
Sydney Airport working conditions risking safety, staff say