At the consultation meeting on 4 February 2021, Qantas Freight management told USU/ASU representatives that the restructure doesn’t need the tick of approval from USU/ASU members. They told us that management makes the decisions, not USU/ASU members.
Qantas must consult your union about the changes its making in your workplace. We demand action from the company on the following issues:
- Safety: Freight is dangerous work. Qantas hasn’t conducted a Risk Assessment for the new structure at a national or port level. We’ve asked them to do this, and they’ve refused. If you have a health and safety concern about the new structure – please send it to your organiser.
- Rosters and staffing: We’ve asked for rosters to understand how the new structure will work. We’re concerned that there won’t be enough people left to do the work. Qantas says it can’t provide us with the rosters that would operate under the new structure until its ready to be implemented. They can’t even answer basic questions about leave coverage or the span of hours. This isn’t good enough.
- Career progression: there’s no clear progression from a clerk at a terminal to the new Operations Coordinator Role under the structure. People deserve the opportunity to move up through the classification structure as they learn new skills.
- USU/ASU work: We are concerned that some tasks currently done by USU/ASU workers are being given to employees on the TWU or UWU agreement. This is outrageous! Those duties could be assigned to USU/ASU workers and saveUSU/ ASU jobs.
Your USU/ASU representatives will meet with Qantas for two further consultation meetings in the week of 15 February 2021.
Got a question?
If you have any questions you want raised at those meetings, please contact your interim organiser Mick Jones on mjones@usu.org.au
