THEO IS A HERO

At the beginning of the pandemic Theo used his right as a HSR to stop work until there was proper PPE to clean planes from China.

He was simply keeping himself and his colleagues safe.

Qantas stood him down for using his legal right to stop unsafe work, and was never stood back up - in fact he was one of the 2000 workers illegally outsourced by Qantas a year later.

Not only has the outsourcing been ruled illegal, Qantas is now facing criminal charges for standing Theo down.

SafeWork NSW has confirmed it filed charges against Qantas Ground Services in the NSW District Court on October 6.

“The charges were filed under section 104(1) of the Work Health and Safety Act (NSW) 2011 and allege that QGS engaged in discriminatory conduct for a prohibited reason as defined in section 106 of the Act,” a SafeWork NSW statement said.

“The charges relate to QGS standing down a worker who raised concerns about potential exposure of workers to COVID-19 while cleaning aircraft in early 2020.”

“We hope the court throws the book at Qantas for undermining the work of a HSR.”

Section 104 of the NSW Work Health and Safety Act prevents employers from discriminating against a worker for raising safety concerns or carrying out their role as a health and safety representative.

The case will be first listed before the court on December 6.

In a statement Qantas said the employee, Theo Seremetidis, was told not to come to work while he was investigated for allegedly breaching standards of conduct for “attempting to incite unprotected industrial action”.

At the time Qantas was not providing cleaning staff with personal protective equipment and the risk to employees was “negligible”.

We know Qantas will fight this with everything they have. Despite several blows in the Federal Court, the airline is still standing by its appalling decision to axe workers in the middle of a pandemic. When asked in a news editorial whether he regrets the unlawful decision, Qantas boss Alan Joyce said “not at all”.

In February 2022, Qantas’s appeal will be heard. We must keep up the unity, strength and resilience as this fight continues. Together, we must hold Qantas to account and protect good, safe and secure jobs now and for generations to come.

Standing up for his Workmates safety!

Qantas denies this claim and asserts staff were provided with safety equipment including masks, gloves and gowns. This SafeWork NSW prosecution of Qantas was a “first of its kind” and we welcome the regulator’s decision.

We hope the court throws the book at Qantas for their outrageous decision to stand down a worker who was simply trying to keep himself and his colleagues safe at work.