Qantas to outsource more than 2,000 ground crew jobs due to coronavirus pandemic
Qantas is outsourcing more than 2,000 ground staff roles across 10 airports in a bid to lower costs as it faces a financial hit from the coronavirus pandemic.
Key points:
Qantas is outsourcing more than 2000 roles, after Jetstar already outsourced about 370 jobs
These outsourcing cuts come on top of 6000 redundances revealed in June, bringing total job losses across the group to about 8500
Qantas says a last-ditch bid by workers for their jobs was not as competitive as third party bids in terms of producing cost savings
Baggage handlers, ramp workers and cabin cleaners at airports including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, Cairns, Townsville, Alice Springs and Canberra will lose their jobs.
The move to outsource about 2,500 jobs was first revealed in August.
The outsourcing cuts come on top of 6,000 already announced redundancies across Qantas's workforce, revealed in June.
Qantas has now cut about 8,500 jobs, out of a pre-COVID workforce of 29,000, due to international travel bans and state border closures.
Jetstar had already outsourced ground handling roles, costing about 370 jobs. That left more than 2,000 baggage handlers and cabin cleaners fighting to keep their jobs.
Airlines are in deep trouble
Governments have pumped $130 billion into keeping airlines afloat, but many have already collapsed and more will follow with big consequences for the cheap overseas travel we've become used to.
Read more
Earlier this month, the Transport Workers' Union (TWU) put in a bid for those 2,000 workers to keep their jobs.
"Unfortunately, none of these bids met the objectives," Qantas said in a statement on Monday.
Qantas has previously estimated about $100 million a year could be saved by outsourcing, and another $80 million saved by avoiding large spending on equipment.
It had also said outsourcing would allow it to match ground handling services with fluctuating levels of demand, on the basis that Qantas expects its flying schedule to be more variable during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
Workers to be consulted on next steps
Qantas said it would consult with its ground handling employees and their representatives on the next steps.
"Affected employees will be entitled to a redundancy package and given support to transition to new jobs outside the business," Qantas said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-30/qantas-airline-outsource-2000-jobs-coronavirus-pandemic-travel/12934228