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“Sickening” – Qantas charged over major COVID safety failure

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Australia’s national carrier has been charged with workplace breaches after a cleaner raised concerns with aircraft coming from China during the early months of the pandemic

COVID-19 Qantas

Qantas has been charged with breaches of the New South Wales Work Health and Safety Act after standing down an employee who raised concerns about the exposure of workers to COVID-19 during the early months of the pandemic, back in 2020.

SafeWork New South Wales confirmed on Tuesday that it filed the charges in the District Court of NSW against Qantas Ground Services on October 6, 2021.

“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.”

The Australian Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) confirmed the worker involved is Theo Seremetidis, a health and safety representative who allegedly advised colleagues to stop cleaning planes arriving from China in early 2020 due to the risk of COVID-19 exposure.

It is understood that Mr Seremetidis was directed by Qantas not to return to work on February 7, 2020, and was stood down on March 30 in line with the 20,000-plus other employees as a result of the pandemic and border closures. 

Reports state Qantas has reiterated a previously released statement, claiming that Mr Seremetidis was stood down for telling colleagues to take part in stop-work action without a reasonable basis to do so.”

Mr Seremetidis was directed not to come to work while he was investigated for failing to comply with our Standards of Conduct policy including allegations of attempting to incite unprotected industrial action,” a spokesperson for Qantas said.

“It’s worth noting that there was not a single positive COVID case carried on our flights back from China.”

Qantas said.

Transport Workers Union NSW State Secretary Richard Olsen says that the regulator’s decision to prosecute the Australian airline was a landmark moment for work health and safety across Australia.

Each charge – the exact number of which is not known – carries a maximum penalty of $594,021 if found guilty.

Anthony Lucas is reporter, presenter and social media producer with ticker News. Anthony holds a Bachelor of Professional Communication, with a major in Journalism from RMIT University as well as a Diploma of Arts and Entertainment journalism from Collarts. He’s previously worked for 9 News, ONE FM Radio and Southern Cross Austerio’s Hit Radio Network. 

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Falling in love with stocks with Nick Quinn

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On this week’s episode of Talk Ya Book, Chris Judd is joined by Spatium Capital’s Nick Quinn to discuss the why investors fall in love with stocks, when to sell and why three of his choices are performing strongly.

Proudly presented by Honan.

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Bank battering sees mess start to clean up

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What will the future of the banking sector look like?

 
The once-mighty banking sector has taken a battering over the past month.

From two U.S. banks closing down, to one in Switzerland merging with its biggest rival, the sector has sent shockwaves throughout financial markets around the world.

And another European Bank could be following suit.

But, what will the future of the industry start to look like, once the mess has been cleaned up?

Founder and CEO of Umee, Brent Xu, joined us to discuss.

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Disney to axe 7,000 jobs

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The Mouse House will deliver two rounds of layoffs

Disney has announced it will begin to axe 7,000 jobs, as it seeks to control costs and create a more “streamlined” business.

Several major divisions of the company, including Disney Entertainment, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, and corporate, will be impacted.

Disney will begin notifying the first group of employees who are impacted by the workforce reductions over the next few days.

A second, larger round of job cuts will happen in April, with several thousand more staff reductions.

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