ACTU backs discrimination claim against Qantas

[Matthew Chisholm]

ACTU backs discrimination claim against Qantas

03 March 2010 5:28pm

Qantas appeared before Fair Work Australia today to defend TWU claims it discriminated against 14 women who lost their jobs in a restructure, as the ACTU called on employers to improve pay and opportunities for women.

The TWU alleges the women, who cleaned and restocked aircraft between flights, were locked out of 47 permanent positions the airline created when it merged their roles with those of ramp and baggage workers at Sydney Airport.

Qantas both directly and indirectly discriminated against the women by failing to train them for the new jobs - despite providing training to some male ramp and baggage workers - and then preventing them from applying, the union alleges.

The airline also failed to offer the 14 women permanent positions, even though they had passed a 12-month threshold after which that was supposed to occur, it says.

Qantas rejected the claims and accused the union of glossing over the strong representation of women in its workforce.

Following a conference with the parties this morning, Commissioner Frank Raffaelli issued a recommendation that senior representatives from both sides meet to "explore whether some compromise and accommodation is possible".

But TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon, who is attending the ACTU executive meeting in Melbourne today, expressed little faith in the prospect that talks would yield a resolution.

"After four months of meeting with Qantas I can only see this going to a full application to reinstate these employees," he said.

The matter looms as a "test-case" of the new Act's anti-discrimination provisions, he said. "This is an extremely important case for women across the country - direct and indirect discrimination in this area should be stamped out".

Qantas has rejected the union's claims, saying it had acted to protect the jobs of its permanent workforce.

David Epstein, the company's group executive government and corporate affairs, said it had acted within the letter and spirit of industrial laws and that it valued the work the women had performed.

"However, the loss of a third party aircraft cleaning and ground handling contract with another airline meant our labour needs were reduced and it was not possible to retain these staff. This, unfortunately, is the reality of the airline business," he said.

Women comprise 40% of the airline's workforce and the company does not discriminate on the basis of gender, he said.

“The TWU seem happy to miss this point and are unfairly using the Qantas brand to bolster an industrial campaign, knowing full well that Qantas is a leading employer of Australian women," he said.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow said the peak body was supporting the TWU case and that the 14 women involved represented tens of thousands of women across Australia rendered invisible because their work is undervalued.

"Qantas can't get away with this, and neither can other large companies in this country," she said.

Discrimination against women is rife in Australian workplaces, Burrow said, with a widening gender pay gap - currently 17% - reflecting a failure to properly value women's work in areas such as community services, health and aged care.

She said the ASU's pay equity test case for the social and community services sector, which the peak body's executive would endorse today or tomorrow, represents an important test of the ability of current arrangements to redress the imbalance.

The ASU case was ready to go and an application date would be set in the next few days, she said.

Burrow said if the case was successful unions would look at launching further pay equity proceedings in other female dominated areas such as aged care and childcare.

"The sky's the limit," she said. "Pick an area where women are at work in a key community service and you will see their work being undervalued," she said.

The executive will also back a campaign by the ACTU and unions on improving conditions for working women in the lead up to the federal election, including on pay equity, the representation of women on company boards and increased transparency on equal treatment - including changes to enable the Fair Work Ombudsman to make spot checks on employers to check their performance

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