Union: Baggage Handlers For Qantas Put Guns In Arrival Areas Unattended

Baggage handlers working for Qantas reportedly put guns into arrival areas and left them unattended, according to the Transport Workers Union.

The incident was one of several safety issues outlined in a report of "highly concerning safety breaches" issued by managers at Swissport, one of the outsourced baggage handling companies used by Qantas.

"This is urgent. We want the air safety regulator to investigate. We want to make sure our skies are safe," Transport Workers Union (TWU) secretary Michael Kaine said on Tuesday.

"We would rather sound the alarm than, in the event of a catastrophic event, be accused of remaining silent.

"We need to leave no stone unturned to bust open Qantas' ground-handling contracts to the bare bones and examine the commercial pressures piled onto a chronically understaffed, inexperienced workforce."

Swissport said it encouraged and supported "all reporting of possible safety issues, regardless of whether those concerns ultimately prove to have no foundation, so we can learn from any incident.

"That is indicative of a high-performing organization, with a real commitment to safety."

Baggage handlers were warned in April twice about incidents involving firearms, according to the memos.

"There has been an increase of incidents where firearms have been incorrectly offloaded onto the arrival's carousel, rather than delivered to Baggage Services," said a memo sent on April 30.

"These are serious security breaches since these items are left unattended on the arrival's carousel, which is open to the general public, effectively allowing anyone to pick the item up and walk away."

Qantas replaced 1,700 in-house ground handling staff with workers from outsourced firms, including Swissport, in 2020.

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