due to lack of staff, airline puts managers to carry bags

Australian airline Qantas has asked its managers to volunteer to support ground staff, including scanning and loading and unloading luggage, due to staff shortages due to COVID-19, the company confirmed on Monday.

In an internal memo, the airline asked about a hundred managers to put in three to five days a week for the next three months as part of a “contingency plan” to ease staffing pressures, after that more than 1,600 workers were laid off during the pandemic.

Qantas does not require prior experience from managers who volunteer, but does require that they be able to move suitcases and parcels weighing up to 32 kilograms.

Qantas chief operating officer Colin Hughes informed staff in an internal memo that people who offer to fill those roles “will be trained and assigned to the ramp environment at Sydney and Melbourne airports,” according to the report. the memorandum

Hugues stressed that the airline is trying to manage the impact on airline logistics and ground passenger services caused by the large number of flu and covid-19 infections during the southern winter.

This adds to the most serious labor market supply shortage “in decades” in Australia, the manager added.

A Qantas spokesman today confirmed the move and said it is a common initiative during periods of intense activity, with some 200 office managers involved in logistics tasks at airports since Easter in April.

“It is clear to us that our operational performance has not lived up to the expectations of our customers or the standards that we expect,” the spokesman said in a statement.

EFE

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