Apparently Qantas has just recently been accused of sex discrimination after firing 14 female aircraft cleaners and replacing them with male baggage handlers. After this, a complaint was lodged with Fair Work Australia under new workplace laws, which make it easier for the regulator to consider sex discrimination disputes.

This case was brought up by the Transport Workers Union on behalf of a 56-year-old Hurstvill mother, Souad Palmer, and her co-workers. This is the first time this new law will be tested.

Sharan Burrow, the president of the ACTU, said that Qantas’s treatment of the women was disgraceful and called on its chief executive Alan Joyce to step in. A spokeswoman, said that they absolutely deny this is about excluding women from Qantas. 40 percent of the airlines employees are women.

Some experts pointed out that it was pretty funny, and at the same time, smart for Qantas to send a spokeswoman out to talk to the press instead of a spokesman. However, Ms Palmer was not amused and said that it was unfair that she was asked to train her replacements who were men moved across from baggage and ramp duties into aircraft cleaning.

It apparently takes about 1 and a half hours to clean a plane. During this time temperatures can be hot and the work is physically hard, as staff have to bend over repeatedly to pick through 300 seat pockets, vacuum and clean toilets. Despite this, Ms Palmer was told to train her replacements in two sections.

Ms Palmer said that she would have been happy to retrain in the baggage handling area instead of being sacked. However, the baggage handling area is an area that is traditionally done by men.