Workers will stage a second protest following the failure of the Canberra Airport Group (CAG) chief executive officer Stephen Byron to intervene in the bungled security contract.
More than 100 security officers from Canberra Airport are facing a drastic cut to conditions, after CAG awarded the security screening contract to the nortoriously anti-worker MSS group.
“Even though the transition to MSS is scheduled to take place on 1 March 2025, not all screeners currently working at the airport have received job offers. Beyond this, those that have been offered jobs will be subject to a 6-month probation period”.
The union representing the workers, United Workers Union (UWU), wrote to Mr Byron urging action in the mismanaged transition, but has so far not recieved a response.
In the meantime, Mr Byron has found time to attend an exclusive ACT Property Council breakfast at which he lamented working from home policies, according to Canberra publication, The Riotact.
“We’re tribal as people, we work better in teams, we work better collaboratively, we understand what we’re trying to achieve,” he was reported as saying last Friday.
UWU executive director Lyndal Ryan said the airport CEO and Canberra personality made some good points in his address and urged him to take some of his own advice when it came to the running of the airport.
“Mr Byron was quoted as saying, ‘managers need to manage people and show leadership and mentoring,’ well I couldn’t agree more and that’s why the union is calling him to do exactly that,” Ms Ryan said.
“We have been alerting Mr Byron for weeks now the massive security risk MSS poses to the ongoing operations of his airport, but our warnings have fallen on deaf ears and MSS continue to behave badly.
“Instead of focusing his ire on office workers, he could take a single minute to have some consideration for the workers who have no option but to show up in person to make sure Canberra Airport runs smoothly, safely and securely.”
A petition calling for Mr Byron’s intervention has close to 800 signatures and can be found here.