Qantas baggage handler says ‘there’s not enough of us there to get to all the bags’

As many as one in 10 pieces of luggage on average are either getting lost or not being loaded onto Qantas domestic flights each day at Sydney airport, according to a baggage handler who works for the company that the carrier outsourced jobs to.

Guardian Australia can separately reveal that Swissport - one of the main companies Qantas has outsourced to supply baggage handling services - has itself been forced to contract two separate labour hire firms to find workers for shifts that Qantas has contracted it to fill.

Amid widespread staff shortages across ground handling and aviation businesses as the beleaguered sector struggles to cope with a return to pre-pandemic travel demand, attrition rates are soaring among new employees scarred by chaotic scenes and poor conditions - with Swissport now offering a $50 a day bonus to baggage handlers at Sydney airport simply for turning up to their shifts for the rest of the year.

While global and local carriers have long relied on third-party contractors to fulfil ground handling services away from their hubs, Qantas and its budget carrier Jetstar's dominance in Australia have meant the recent surge in lost luggage, and its emergence as the airline with the worst on-time performance and cancellation rates in May, have been significant contributors to the chaotic scenes at Australian airports this year.

Qantas has suffered a shortage of baggage handlers since its 2020 decision to outsource about 1,700 jobs. That decision was found to be unlawful and in part motivated by anti-union sentiment, and the airline is now attempting to challenge that finding in the high court.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, one Swissport baggage handler in Sydney - who requested anonymity out of fear of retribution - raised concerns that those loading and transporting bags to and from Qantas and Jetstar flights were overworked, poorly paid, and unable to handle the increase in baggage in recent months as domestic travel had soared.

The worker said that of the roughly 100 barrows, or trolleys, that carry 30 to 40 pieces of luggage to and from the bellies of Qantas planes each day at the Sydney domestic airport, "these days there are about 10 barrows each day that just don't make it on".

They said that during recent school holiday peaks office managers from Qantas and Swissport had rolled up their sleeves and helped move luggage alongside handlers, however "there's just still not enough of us there to get to all the bags".

In recent months, Swissport has contracted labour hire firms Star Aviation and Workfast - the latter of which is not aviation-specific - to fill the shortages in its teams working on Qantas and Jetstar operations. Training and processes differ depending on the airline, with the type of aircraft dictating how luggage is loaded.

The Swissport worker who spoke to the Guardian said about 25% of his colleagues each day were from labour hire firms, many of which do not have specific training. As a result, he said some were cutting corners or doing less thorough work.

"A lot of us get frustrated with them because they don't do basic stuff properly. Sometimes they just move but don't scan bags, which is a necessity, because it can mean we don't know weight distribution in a plane or if a bag has arrived.

"They've also been dropping transfer bags on arrival carousels, which is a reason why bags aren't making it onto flights with passengers," they said.

The worker said staff attrition was becoming a bigger problem as the airport environment became busier and more demanding, and said many of those who joined Swissport when he did, as well as in subsequent months, had left for jobs either in different industries as well as with other airlines and aviation businesses at Sydney airport that pay more than Swissport does.

They said that while staff were not complaining about the temporary $50 a day bonus for turning up to work, they were still frustrated at conditions. "Swissport is offering anything except permanent wage increases."

Additionally, in jobs Swissport is advertising in cities such as Brisbane, the company is stipulating new employees spend their first month at Sydney airport - billed as a "great opportunity to experience Sydney" - where it is also paying for their hotel accommodation.

At a recent jobs fair at Sydney airport, Swissport was hiring part-time contracts, but offering workers full-time hours under these contracts, at $23.41 an hour.

The worker said recent coverage of Qantas's big spends on new ultra-long-haul aircraft for direct flights to Europe had angered tired workers, and Swissport employees were increasingly talking about union organising. "I can't tell you how frustrating it is seeing Alan Joyce on TVs where we work showing off these shiny new flights."

The worker also raised concern that during a busy shift recently, when a colleague injured themselves, both the supervisor and manager were busy helping out with other activities, and with no on-site health and safety representative, there was no one to report the injury to.

"I would tell everyone, don't check in bags when you fly with Qantas right now, or even better if you can avoid it, don't fly Qantas at all," the worker said.

Staff shortages and attrition was an increasing problem for ground handler providers and the airlines that rely on them. One industry source told Guardian Australia that in recent weeks, one company started 20 new employees at 9am on a Monday at one Australian airport. By 4pm that day, eight of them had quit, and by the Friday of that week, just seven of the 20 employees remained.

"The young people coming into these roles, they're getting yelled at, they're getting paid poorly, and now they're saying 'you know what, bugger this, I'm going to work in a cafe because I get paid as much or more than I do here and don't have the stress'."

"And those who got sacked during the pandemic are saying they don't want to go back to the industry that shut on them overnight. So we've got this huge void of experience," the source said.

The Transport Workers Union has long been critical of Qantas's outsourcing decision, successfully challenging it in the federal court. The TWU's national secretary, Michael Kaine, said Swissport had "no choice but to keep wages low because Qantas's squeeze on contracts is neither sustainable nor safe".

"It is no surprise that Swissport can't recruit or retain staff. Swissport would rather pay workers an extra $50 a day to show up for work, bring in interstate workers and outsource to companies like Star Aviation than pay proper wages."

A Qantas spokesperson told the Guardian "resourcing continues to be a challenge for the entire aviation industry" and its ground handling suppliers had "improved significantly since the holiday peak in April".

"While there's still a lot more to be done to improve our operational performance, the rate of mishandled baggage has improved in recent months," the spokesperson said.

A Swissport spokesperson said the company had worked with Qantas to varying degrees for decades because "the scale of our operations means that we can deliver a cost-effective service that is safe and reliable".

"The rapid rebound in travel demand has put pressure on resourcing across the entire aviation sector, both here in Australia and around the world."