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The Australian Services Union (ASU) has launched a broadside at Qantas over a job cull following the airline’s adoption of AI in Sydney.
As originally reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, the tension comes after Qantas last week terminated 30 roles at its Mascot location to simplify its management structure. The ASU said it was told that those roles would be replaced by AI, which the airline says is not the case.
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“Our members turned up for work on Wednesday, were taken aside and told effectively that their job had been replaced by AI and they have four weeks to find another job,” said ASU NSW ACT secretary, Angus McFarland.
Qantas denied the claim, and following questioning by the SMH, the union did not clarify what AI tools it claimed would replace the terminated staff.
“We advised the Australian Services Union on Wednesday last week of the changes and are meeting with them on Monday to discuss ways to reduce the impact on affected employees,” said a Qantas spokesperson.
“This includes considering redeployment opportunities into one of the newly created roles resulting from these changes, or into other roles across the group.”
While Qantas did deny that AI was to replace the roles, it did not rule out that other technologies played a part.
The consultation, which took place yesterday (Monday, February 23), was to determine redundancy payments and to see if some, if not all, staff could be shifted to other roles.
The redundancy was announced in December last year, and while the airline has said that no more roles should be cut as part of this restructure, the ASU wants clarification that the terminations are not just one round of a multi-faceted redundancy plan.
“Unless Qantas is prepared to immediately back away from this announcement and commence genuine consultation with the union and our members, we see no alternative other than to lodge a dispute with the Fair Work Commission,” said McFarland.
“Our members need to know that their jobs are safe and secure. If their jobs are redundant, they need to know that their entitlements will be paid, or they will be offered training to apply for new jobs.
“Just six months ago, when we bargained for a new agreement, Qantas refused to provide any protections for our members against job losses due to AI – now we know why.”
On December 3, when Qantas announced that there would be a company restructure, chief executive Vanessa Hudson said that the company was looking to appoint a chief AI officer “to lead implementation and scaling of AI across the organisation.”
At the same time, QantasLink head Rachel Yangoyan was appointed chief technology, AI and transformation officer, with the role intended to oversee the company’s “AI strategy, data and analytics and enterprise technology-driven transformation programs”.
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