Qantas Ground Strike 23–24 September 2026: What It Means for Workers and Flights

Qantas ground handlers employed by two Qantas subsidiaries, Qantas Ground Services (QGS) and Australian air Express (AaE), will stop work for 24 hours next week: Wednesday 23 September in Victoria and Thursday 24 September in the rest of the country. The Transport Workers' Union announced the action on 18 September 2026 (TWU statement).

The ABC reports about 650 workers are involved. Most work in Qantas Freight; a smaller group services QantasLink flights at Sydney Airport. According to Qantas, they do not service Qantas mainline or international flights, or QantasLink at any other airport (ABC, 18 September 2026). The timing lands in the first days of the Queensland, Victorian and Northern Territory school holidays.

The workers voted in a Commission-run ballot in late August: the union says 97% of 350 voters backed action ranging from one-hour to 24-hour stoppages (ABC, 31 August 2026). Bargaining has run for about 11 months, and the parties were in Fair Work Commission conciliation on Friday 18 September. Qantas says those talks have been constructive and that it wants an agreement with annual pay rises and more full-time roles.

The TWU's case is about pay, job security and structure. It says QGS and AaE have resisted bringing pay and security "in line with industry standards" and consolidating work groups under the same Qantas banner. Its wider complaint is that Qantas splits ground work across subsidiaries that compete with each other on cost, which it says drains experience from airports and drives casual, insecure rosters. It links that to safety, citing the death of a Qantas Freight worker on Father's Day 2025.

Qantas disputes the safety claims and says it is committed to reaching an agreement with its QGS employees. These are the positions of two parties in a live dispute; the agreement that comes out of bargaining is what will settle them.

The history matters here. In 2020 Qantas outsourced about 1,800 ground handling jobs; the High Court held in 2023 that the outsourcing contravened the Fair Work Act. The workers striking next week are, in the union's words, "the last remaining Qantas ground workers". For pay context, see our Qantas pay rates 2026 page and the Qantas enterprise agreements in our corpus, including the Australian air Express agreement, which passed its nominal expiry on 30 June 2025.

A strike is only lawful in Australia if it is protected industrial action under the Fair Work Act. The conditions:

• the current enterprise agreement has passed its nominal expiry date
• the union and employees have been genuinely trying to reach agreement
• a majority of voting employees approved the action in a protected action ballot (97% here)
• the employer gets written notice before the action starts, at least three working days

When those boxes are ticked, workers cannot be dismissed or otherwise punished for taking part, and they are generally immune from being sued for the disruption. The Commission can suspend or stop protected action in limited cases, for instance where it endangers life or safety or threatens significant economic harm. The Fair Work Ombudsman's industrial action page sets out the rules.

No. The Fair Work Act prohibits an employer from paying employees for a period of protected industrial action, and prohibits employees from asking for or accepting that pay. A 24-hour stoppage means a day's pay is deducted. That is the law, not an employer choice.

Outside the stoppage, everything else stays normal. Work performed must be paid as usual, rosters cannot be changed as punishment, and taking part in protected action cannot be used against you in discipline or dismissal. If you work at QGS or AaE and see anything on your payslip beyond the strike-day deduction, run it through our payslip checker.

For passengers, the exposure is narrow: QantasLink flights out of Sydney on the strike day, and possibly connections to selected regional destinations. Qantas says it has contingency plans to minimise the impact and that mainline domestic and international services are not affected. If you are booked on QantasLink from Sydney on 24 September, check the flight status the day before and keep an eye on your email.

Freight is the bigger effect. Most of the striking workers handle Qantas Freight, which carries Australia Post parcels. Australia Post told the ABC it has "detailed contingency plans" and will work with freight partners to limit delays. Expect some parcel delays in the days after 23 and 24 September.

This is the second large transport strike in a month. About 4,000 FedEx workers began protected two-hour stoppages on 28 August (our FedEx explainer), and the TWU says roughly 220 transport agreements are being negotiated across the sector. The claims are consistent: pay, limits on outsourcing and casualisation, and consultation before automation. What is won at Qantas and FedEx will set the template for the rest.

If you work in aviation ground handling for any employer, the same checks apply: your classification, the base rate against the award floor, casual loading and penalties. Start with the transport pay rates pages and the back-pay calculator if the numbers do not add up.