Key Sentence:
- Australian airline Qantas will face criminal charges in early 2020 for aircraft cleaning obligations.
- A janitor has been told to stop working after refusing to practice cleaning on a plane arriving from China.
SafeWork NSW security officers accused Qantas of discriminatory behavior by stopping paying workers who raised concerns about workers’ exposure to Covid. However, Qantas said the cleaner was being investigated for “attempting to incite unprotected industrial activity.” The union called the prosecutor a “reference point for health and safety in the workplace.”
When the Covid pandemic broke out, janitor Theo Seremedidis was selected as Qantas’ health and safety officer. He said last week during an Australian Senate investigation. That Qantas’ precautions were inadequate: “We have focused on cleaning the aircraft with water alone. No disinfectant for the trays, no disinfectant for anything,” he said.
“PPE is not authorized even though the manager is wearing HAZMAT clothes.
We were not even given masks or disinfectants. “These safety concerns place workers in Australia and more broadly at risk of serious infection and spread of Covid-19,” he added.
Mr. Seremedidis alleged that concerns raised by management were not heeded and eventually ordered a group of workers to stop working. “The day this happened, I was immediately removed. The day I woke up was my last day at Qantas.” Safety authority SafeWork NSW went after the airline. Claiming the company had engaged in discriminatory behavior.
“As this matter is pending in court, no further information can be provided at this time,” a SafeWork spokesperson said. Richard Olsen of the Transport Workers Union, which filed the complaint, said. “The indictment is the first of its kind in Australia. “Qantas gave up on Theo only because of his efforts to protect himself and his colleagues from Kovid, and now the company is being sued.”
The airline said that Mr. Seremedidis did not follow proper protocol for the industry actions he took. “There are legal mechanisms that health and safety officials have to follow when they have concerns.