Qantas ground crew plan strike over fragmented contracts and wage demands

The Transport Workers’ Union announced that 600 Qantas ground staff, the remaining members after 1,800 were unlawfully dismissed and replaced with outsourced workers during the pandemic, will strike next week. An additional 100 employees of Australian air Express are slated to join the action on Wednesday and Thursday. The union is pressing for one enterprise agreement to cover ground and freight personnel across Qantas Ground Services, QantasLink, Qantas Freight, Australian air Express and labour-hire groups, rejecting the multiple contracts introduced under former chief Alan Joyce, who left in 2023.

Joyce’s tenure saw the airline outsource roles and fragment employment terms to curb union influence. A federal judge fined Qantas $90 million in 2025 for the illegal dismissals, and the airline paid $120 million to affected workers; under CEO Vanessa Hudson the company says it is rebuilding relations and remains committed to pay rises and full-time jobs. Qantas expects talks with the TWU on Friday and has contingency plans to limit passenger impact, while the union warns that the division of the workforce has eroded safety standards, citing a fatal freight-worker accident last year.