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Airport ground handlers working for Dnata have finally locked in a pay deal after the TWU walked away from an agreement that was only reached in December.
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The union said the fresh deal would see pay rises of up to 12 per cent over two years alongside improvements to rostering and rest periods.
Dnata services 21 airlines in Australia, including Emirates, Singapore, Japan Airlines as well as international operations for Qantas.
The agreement comes after ground handlers went on strike for four hours at Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane airports.
“Over a thousand Dnata workers walked off the job last week after a year of negotiations, and have now locked in rostering improvements including maximum six rostered consecutive shifts, minimum 48 hour rest periods and 7 days’ notice of rostering changes, and improvements to shift penalty rates,” said the TWU.
“The company has also agreed to further negotiations with the TWU on any future work at Western Sydney International Airport.”
The January deal is an improvement of the 11 per cent pay rise over two years agreed in principle in December, but then subsequently rejected.
Negotiations were clouded, though, by Qantas’ high-profile decision in 2021 to outsource 1,700 in-house ground handling roles to third-party companies, including Dnata.
The TWU had argued that the subsequent deal struck between Qantas and Dnata led to worse working terms than staff previously received while working directly for the airline.
While the Federal Court twice ruled that the decision breached the Fair Work Act, it eventually decided those employees wouldn’t be able to get their old jobs back and would instead have to accept compensation.
“After a year of negotiations and over a thousand TWU members taking strike action last week, Dnata workers have now won an agreement that puts them in a place to start rebuilding decent aviation jobs,” said the TWU’s National Secretary Michael Kaine after the Dnata deal was finalised.
“Workers sent a strong message to Dnata and its clients like Qantas that they’re sick of their industry going backwards. Crucially, Dnata has agreed to improve workers’ conditions, but it has also come with us to bring up the rest of the industry.
Dnata said it was pleased to have reached a deal with the TWU and called the salary increase “industry-leading”.
“These address cost-of-living pressures and deliver the highest average earnings in the Australian ground handling sector,” it said. “This agreement reaffirms our commitment to fair and competitive compensation for our employees.”
