Qantas Freight and Australia Post are activating contingency plans ahead of 24-hour industrial action by ground and freight workers, with the dispute set to test how well parcel, medical and time-critical freight can be protected when part of the air-cargo handling network stops.
Transport Workers’ Union members employed across Qantas Ground Services and Australian Air Express are due to stop work for 24 hours in Victoria on Wednesday, 23 September, followed by action across the rest of Australia on Thursday, 24 September.
The employees support Qantas Freight operations as well as some QantasLink regional services. The TWU says the action follows a 97 per cent vote in favour of protected industrial action and centres on pay, job security, employment conditions and safety.
Qantas told WWTG that fewer than 500 TWU-member employees across Qantas Ground Services and Australian Air Express are eligible to participate. The airline says it has contingency resources and plans in place and will prioritise time-critical and medical freight.
Why Australia Post is exposed
Air freight is a relatively small part of the overall parcel network by volume, but it performs an outsized role when distance and delivery time matter. Interstate express parcels, urgent replacement parts, medical consignments and freight moving to or from remote locations can depend on overnight air capacity and tightly timed ground handling.
Australia Post is a major user of Qantas Freight capacity. A stoppage affecting cargo acceptance, loading, unloading or terminal processing therefore has the potential to flow beyond the airport and into parcel sortation, linehaul connections and final delivery schedules.
Australia Post told WWTG it had “detailed contingency plans” and was working with freight partners to minimise the effect on customers and services. It did not provide figures showing how much freight may be exposed, how much alternative capacity is available or which lanes are most vulnerable.
That does not mean disruption is certain across the entire parcel network. It means the operational outcome will depend on where freight is moving, whether it can be brought forward or delayed, and how much handling and aircraft capacity can be redirected.
Qantas says key operations will continue
Qantas says its overnight operations at Western Sydney International will not be affected by the notified action. The airline also says it will deploy contingency resources and prioritise time-critical and medical freight.
That distinction is important. An industrial stoppage can affect particular employers, terminals, shifts and functions without shutting down every part of a national freight network. Freight may still move while taking longer, travelling through a different gateway or missing a planned connection.
The practical pressure point is therefore not simply whether an aircraft departs. Freight also has to be accepted, screened, built into load units, transferred to the aircraft, unloaded, broken down and released in time to meet the next road or parcel-network connection.
A delay of several hours at one stage can mean missing an overnight sort or linehaul departure, turning a short interruption into a next-day delivery problem.
The industrial dispute
The TWU argues that workers are seeking improved pay, stronger job security and more consistent conditions across the Qantas group. It has also raised safety concerns and linked the dispute to Qantas’s employment and outsourcing model.
Qantas disputes the union’s safety claims. The airline says it remains committed to reaching an agreement that provides annual pay increases and that negotiations have continued through the Fair Work Commission.
The competing claims need to be kept separate from the immediate freight question. The TWU is using protected action to increase pressure in enterprise bargaining. Qantas is seeking to maintain freight and regional operations through contingency staffing. Customers will judge the result by whether consignments continue moving within promised delivery windows.
What freight customers should expect
Contingency planning does not necessarily mean there will be no delays. It means the businesses involved have identified alternative arrangements intended to reduce them.
Operators and customers with urgent consignments should confirm acceptance cut-off times, monitor tracking events and avoid assuming that a booked air service guarantees the usual ground-handling connection. Medical and genuinely time-critical freight is being prioritised, which may leave less flexibility for lower-priority consignments if capacity tightens.
The greatest risk is likely to fall on freight with little timing margin: parcels lodged close to cut-off, consignments requiring multiple connections, remote-area freight and goods that cannot readily be shifted to road transport.
The action is also a reminder that express freight is a chain rather than a single flight. Airlines, ground handlers, terminal staff, road feeders, parcel sort centres and delivery fleets all have to connect on time. Capacity elsewhere in the system only helps if freight can be transferred to it quickly enough.
A live operational test
The planned stoppages will provide a real test of the resilience built into the Qantas Freight and Australia Post networks. The important measure will not be whether all operations continue unchanged, but whether priority freight is protected and any backlog is contained without producing wider delivery disruption.
For now, Qantas and Australia Post say they have plans in place. The extent of the impact will only become clear once the action begins and freight starts moving—or waiting—through the affected terminals.
This report concerns industrial action notified for 23 and 24 September 2026. Timing or operational arrangements may change if the parties reach an agreement or vary the action.
Sources and primary material
- Transport Workers’ Union — Hundreds of Qantas ground workers to strike against Joyce-era tactics, 18 September 2026
- Reuters — Qantas ground workers to strike over pay and conditions
- Qantas Freight — official freight network information
Image: Qantas Freight