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Ground handlers at dnata are set to strike for 24 hours next Wednesday as an impasse continues over pay negotiations.
The planned industrial action, starting at 6am, will affect ramp, cargo and baggage handling across Queensland, NSW, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory, and comes after 98 per cent of workers voted in favour of strikes in a ballot filed in October.
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Transport Workers’ Union national secretary Michael Kaine said dnata workers have been “forced to the point of taking strike action” by a “broken aviation industry” and urged the company to suggest a better deal at emergency negotiations on Friday.
“They’re struggling to stay in aviation with low pay, overuse of part-time jobs and not enough guaranteed hours, as well as poor rostering and ongoing payroll issues that prevents decent work-life balance,” he said.
“We can’t risk seeing dnata become another of those companies joining the downwards spiral driven by Qantas’ approach that preferences bottom-feeders of the industry like Swissport.
“Workers are saying enough is enough: it’s time for decent standards to keep people in the industry and attract more workers into the future.
“Dnata should join that push to lift up the industry instead of joining the race to the bottom, but the responsibility lies as much with Qantas here to rebuild the jobs it destroyed and pay its fair share.”
Kaine also said workers at the new Western Sydney Airport should see similar protections when it opens in 2026.
“This will be the largest creation of aviation jobs in decades. These workers are also calling for the company to guarantee fair wages and conditions are also guaranteed at Western Sydney International,” he said.
“We’re going to continue to see a skills drain at our airports without decent, secure aviation jobs. It’s not just workers who will suffer but the travelling public who used to be able to depend on decent standards.”
dnata has been contacted for comment. In a statement earlier this week, the company said it is “extremely disappointed that the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) rejected [its] highly competitive offer”, which offered the “highest average earnings in the Australian ground handling industry”.
“Our offer includes a five per cent salary increase in the first year, which is significantly higher than both the current Consumer Price Index (CPI, 2.8 per cent) and the wage price index (WPI, 3.5 per cent),” a spokesperson said.
“Additionally, dnata has offered a further one per cent increase in benefits and a further four per cent salary increase for the following year. The proposal also includes improvements in rostering provisions.
“Should an industrial action go ahead, our robust contingency plans will help us minimise any impact on our operations.
“We continue to directly engage with our employees to discuss with them the position of our business and the value of our proposal. We are hopeful that even if industrial action is pursued by the union, it will not be strongly supported by our employees.”
Ground handlers at dnata had previously threatened strike action in 2022, only to call it off after being given a 12.6 per cent pay rise.
